Let’s be honest, it’s gathering dust in the cupboard.

But that slow cooker you bought (with the best intentions of cooking up healthy stews and soups) can be used for something truly useful at this time of year.

A giant vat of bubbling hot chocolate.

Kids freak out for this stuff so it’s the perfect treat for your merry band of miniature sugar-mad housemates. Adults go wild for it too, so have a pot on the boil the next time you’re having mates over post-lockdown.

In the meantime, you can even add a shot of rum to Irish it up a bit during the next six weeks of isolation.

Ingredients

• 260g cocoa powder (sifted)
• 1 can of condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2ltrs whole milk
• 240mls heavy cream
• 500g chocolate chips (the best are from O’Conaill Chocolate)
• Toppings: Whipped cream, marshmallows, chilli flakes, cinnamon, bashed-up Crunchie Bar…

Make it:

1. Pop all of the ingredients except the toppings into your slow cooker.
2. Set it to ‘low’ and leave for two hours
3. Ladle the hot chocolate into mugs and top with all manner of goodies.