Mexican Hot Chocolate

• 1 1/2 qts. regular or low-fat milk
• 1 pt. half-and-half
• 12 in. Mexican or regular cinnamon sticks, broken into large pieces
• 2 dried chiles de arbol or other small dried chiles, torn into pieces
• Zest of 1/2 orange, removed in strips with a vegetable peeler
• 4 tablets (about 12 oz.) Mexican chocolate such as Ibarra, coarsely chopped
• 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise

1. Combine milk, half-and-half, cinnamon, chiles, zest, and chocolate in a medium pot. Scrape vanilla seeds from pods with side of a knife and add seeds and pods to pan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat, stirring often; cook 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and steep about 15 minutes. Strain hot chocolate into a bowl, then return to pot.
2. Heat to steaming over medium heat, stirring. Whirl in a blender in 3 batches until frothy and pour into a pitcher or mugs. Garnish with shaved chocolate if you like.
3. Make ahead: Through step 1 up to 3 days, chilled.
4. Note: Nutritional analysis is per serving.

regular, regular cinnamon, arbol, orange, tablets, vanilla beans

Taken from www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mexican-hot-chocolate-4 (may not work)