Pumpkin Spice White Hot Chocolate

Comforting, decadent with all of your favorite fall flavors, this will be your new favorite drink this season!

Yesterday would have been my friend Joan’s 50th birthday.

You might remember me talking about Joan and her sudden death from a heart attack here and how the food blogging community was so deeply saddened and shocked that she had passed. You see, Joan wasn’t just a food blogger, or even a hugely successful food blogger, she was incredibly thoughtful, helpful and very much a mentor to say many of us.

Joan’s blog, Chocolate Chocolate and More was (and still is!) incredibly successful and she had millions of fans just on Facebook alone.  She loved to share her tips  with so many people and always was there to help people (like me) out.  I met Joan when I first started blogging and she helped me tremendously.  You could tell she loved helping her friends and sharing her success stories with us all.  I will forever be grateful for her friendship. And all of her guidance.

And to continue with Joan’s theme of helping others, here are the warning signs of a heart attack.  They are very different for men and women so please take a minute to read this.   I just know Joan would be smiling right now knowing she could help even more people.  That’s just the way she was.

So…..this decadent white hot chocolate was Joan’s recipe on her blog.  The blog that is still up and running (with great success thanks to her friends and family) and the ads on her blog help generate income for her 3 kids.  So naturally, I wanted to help Joan and her family, just like she helped this scared, food-blogging newbie years ago.  Please go over to Joan’s blog and go check out her recipes, especially with the holidays coming up!  If you’ve been following me on Facebook, you’d know that I have been making Joan’s Easy Chocolate Fudge for Christmas for years! We all should indulge in treats around the holidays right? Well, this one is sheer perfection.

Back to this recipe.

I enjoyed reading Joan’s blog post (from 4 years ago tomorrow!) about how she never had pumpkin before! In our blogging world, pumpkin this time of year is HUGE and I just love Joan’s honesty and straightforwardness. She wasn’t crazy about pumpkin, but wanted to branch out so she took some “baby steps” with this amazing Pumpkin Spice White Hot Chocolate.  She hit it out of the park, once again.  She was the master of all things chocolate.

Please click HERE to view the recipe in its entirety.

Happy birthday Joan!

Let’s all enjoy a piece of chocolate in honor of Joan today.

Please go visit some other friends who are remembering Joan today…

Chocolate Overload Loaded Brownies from 365 Days of Baking

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cracker Bars from Frugal Foodie Mama

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars from Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt

White Chocolate Velvet Pie from The Domestic Rebel

Heavenly Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars from Kudos Kitchen by Renee

Joan’s Ding Dong Cake from Hungry Couple

Paleo Double Chocolate Fudge Pie from Texanarian

Lunch Lady Pumpkin Brownies from The Bitter Side of Sweet

Gluten Free Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cake from Cupcakes and Kale Chips

…and I will be adding more as people share them.

Thank you for letting me share this with you today.