The Bay Area has been soooo cold(ok not as cold as many other parts of the country!), and rainy this entire week! It has been dull and gloomy and all I want is hot liquids, like tea and hot chocolate! The kids have been craving hot chocolate and marshmallows since December and ever so often I made for them hot chocolate made with semi sweet chocolate and cocoa powder OR the white hot chocolate made with white chocolate and thandai powder!
Thandai aka Thand means cold in Hindi. Thandai is a spiced boozy cold milk drink served during the Holi festival in India signifying the onset of Spring. It is made with a ton of nuts and spices steeped in warm milk, and then made cold before serving. My mom would make this drink for us as kids without the booze ofcourse, and it is my absolute favorite drink till date! The powder is made with almonds, cashews, pistachios, spices like star anise, fennel, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, poppy seeds, cloves, black pepper. This powder is then steeped in milk for about 10-15 minutes with saffron and sugar. Once steeped, it is left to cool in the fridge, and strained before serving cold to get this luxurious, rich, delicious, spiced milk which is simply amazing!
I made a Thandai spiced White Hot Chocolate, where I steeped milk with white chocolate chips and the thandai powder. The recipe for the thandai powder is here, and can be used to make these delicious cookies too!! The spices are perfectly warming in this weather. Since I had made peppermint marshmallows for the holidays, I used it for the white hot chocolate. The recipe for the peppermint marshmallows is here. You could substitute the peppermint extract with rose extract in the marshmallow recipe and these rose marshmallows would be perfect with the Thandai White hot chocolate!
Perfectly delicious drink to warm yourself up in this cold weather!
If you do try this recipe, please do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment below on this post.
Thank you so much for reading!
Much love,
XO
Amisha
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp thandai powder
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 cup white chocolate chips( I use Ghirardelli chips)
- Marshmallows for topping
- Sprinkle of powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, on medium to low heat, add the milk, thandai powder, and white hot chocolate and keep stirring to dissolve the white chocolate. Do not let it boil. Let it simmer. Once simmered for about 5 minutes, switch off the gas. Strain the hot chocolate and pour it into 4 glasses.
- Top with the marshmallows a sprinkle of powdered sugar!
It has been so cold here and a cozy mug of hot chocolate sounds so delicious. Love those pretty marshmallows too! 🙂
Thanks much Laura! Gosh those marshmallows are amazing! My kids have been craving so much hot chocolate haha! I love my hot tea 😉
This Thandai powder sounds so delightful. Earthy from the nuts, warm spices and then the beautiful floral hit from rose. I can only image how lovely it would be in a hot chocolate. Beautiful recipe Amisha!
thank you so much Samantha! Yes, you described it accurately! Earthy and floral! And very flavorful! My mom would make the same drink, but without the chocolate and sugar and saffron instead! It is super delicious! And a little goes a long way 🙂
These are gorgeous, Amisha! I’ve always wanted to try white hot chocolate so I’ll have to give this a go soon…especially with some homemade marshmallows! The best combo ever!
Thanks so much Joscelyn! White hot chocolate is just so delicious! I love it with the spices! My mom would make the same drink, but without the chocolate and there would be sugar instead with saffron! So flavorful from all the spices!
What is thandai powder and where do I find it?
It is a powder of mixed spices and nuts, and is delicious in a lot of different ways. It hails from India. You can find it in Indian Stores or you could try Amazon as well.
First time to know the Thandai powder. It sounds interesting. I love the star shaped marshmallow. It looks beautiful with the white chocolate!
Thank you so much! Thandai powder is very flavorful! It is a must try ! Yes, Those marshmallows were a big hit 🙂