I LOVED this! I've been looking for a recipe like this for weeks (in honor of my favorite Mexican Restaurant within 300 miles: Junior Salsa's in Arbor Vitae, WI). This is the best recipe I've found so far. I scaled it to 2 servings (albeit for one person: me). I didn't have any sweet peppers on hand, so I skipped it. I imagine it would add another dimension of flavor to this already delightfully unique hot chocolate; I will definitely make this again using the red pepper. This time, however, I added about a 1/2 t. of vanilla extract (for 2 servings, remember) and, for extra creaminess (how I prefer my hot chocolate), I melted 4 large marshmallows as I heated the mixture. (I also used 3 parts milk / 1 part light cream instead of just milk). Sorry for the rate-with-mods, but OMG YUM! By the way, I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder (again, with EXCELLENT results); don't know if that makes a difference to others who are considering this recipe.

If you are into unusual chocolate flavor combos, you HAVE to try this. I am a big hot chocolate fan, and this is one of the best and most unusual I have ever had. I gave it 4 stars because I made a number of alterations that probably should have been in the original recipe (and I hope I am not offending any South Americans with these!): I used 2 tsp of chili instead of Tbsp, but if you like more burn, keep it as is. I added half the pepper - I do think it is an important flavor, but not so much. I did not heat the dry ingredients for a full 5 minutes - the sugar started to get gooey and weird. Does anyone have ideas for making it thicker? I think that would be great.

wow. that's WILD!!! i actually like it a lot! i think i might have put in a little too much chili powder, and i used green pepper instead of red, but it was still great for a cold day. Yum. The only thing i wonder about is if the pepper is actually needed. It just seems like kind of a waste if you cut up a whole pepper and then throw it away. Regardless, the hot chocolate was great (to my taste anyways) and i'm planning to make it again.