Hot Chocolate

[prairiegirl]

I am looking for different hot chocolate ideas...Mexican, Brazilian, etc... My kids have a recipe they developed which is 1 T Cocoa and 2 T sugar for 1 cup milk. What is your favourite recipe?

[amccomb]

I like to add a tiny pinch of salt and a bit of vanilla. My husband likes it when I stir in a big spoonful of peanut butter.

[Takhisis]

Pierre Herme has the best hot chocolate ever, and there are no fancy ingredients just cocoa, chocolate, & milk.

Hope you like them,

Michelle

Chocolat Chaud

From It Must've Been Something I Ate , by Jeffrey Steingarten

(adapted from Pierre Hermé).

Ingredients:

2-1/4 cups whole milk

1/4 cup bottled still water

1/4 cup (generous) superfine granulated sugar

1 100-gm bar (3-1/2 ounces) dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup (1 ounce or 28 gm) cocoa powder, loosely packed

Instructions:

In a 2-quart saucepan, stir together the milk, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the chopped chocolate and the cocoa and bring to a boil again, whisking until the chocolate and cocoa are dissolved and the mixture has thickened. Reduce the heat to very low.

Blend for 5 minutes with an immersion mixer or whirl the hot chocolate in a standard blender for half a minute, until thick and foamy.

Yield: Four 6-ounce cups of hot chocolate.

Note: I use a dark chocolate containing close to 70 percent cocoa, though Lindt bittersweet also works just fine. The Mayans and the Aztecs considered the froth the best part. Today, five minutes with an immersion mixer or a blender accomplishes what a half hour of beating did long ago.

Here's one for caramelized cinnamon hot chocolate.

http://onebigkitchen.com/?p=155

Here are a bunch of other variations from Chowhound.com

http://www.chow.com/stories/10895

[Jenni]

Real chocolate, whole milk, not too much sugar. A bit of cinnamon and chilli powder adds a nice touch too.

[Darienne]

Here's our family favorite: 2 tablespoons of good quality hot chocolate mix (sorry), into one cup of hot decaf coffee, plus one jigger (size is your call) 1/2 vodka and 1/2 liqueur of your choice (my fave is Panama Jack), thrown into the blender, whizzed so it gets foamy, into a big, big mug with a sprinkling of cinnamon, or whatever on top.

We call it Road's End Coffee because that's the name of our farm. It's not sophisticated, but by gum! it's tasty.

[Chris Hennes]

What is all this "health food" hot chocolate crap!

Hot Chocolate

75 g your favorite chocolate (I like E. Guittard 61% Lever du Soleil), chopped

75 mL heavy cream

150 mL whole milk

Heat the cream to a boil and pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit 2 minutes to melt, then stir to emulsify. Heat whole milk to a simmer, add to mug with chocolate mixture, stir to combine. OK, so this is more like a drinkable candybar... but on a cold day, nuthin' better.

[Darienne]

What is all this "health food" hot chocolate crap!

Hot Chocolate

75 g your favorite chocolate (I like E. Guittard 61% Lever du Soleil), chopped

75 mL heavy cream

150 mL whole milk

Heat the cream to a boil and pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit 2 minutes to melt, then stir to emulsify. Heat whole milk to a simmer, add to mug with chocolate mixture, stir to combine. OK, so this is more like a drinkable candybar... but on a cold day, nuthin' better.

I like this. You must remember that Road's End Coffee predates my interest in food. Now I think that it is way past due in some kind up upping of the levels of ingredients. Maybe in the interests of science I should make one this evening. I have heavy cream. I have Guittard ...oops...it's only 56 % as I recall...Thanks. Chris.

[merstar]

Equal amounts Dutch Processed cocoa and sugar, about 7 x milk to cocoa powder, a little espresso powder, a little cinnamon, and vanilla extract.

[RWood]

I used to make a mexican spiced hot chocolate that I served with churros. It was really good, it had chili flakes, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, star anise & orange zest steeped in the milk. It was made with dark brown sugar and cocoa powder, and I usually used Valrhona.

[Jaymes]

I like hot chocolate made in the Mexican manner - "like water for chocolate" - bubbling hot water and one of the Mexican brands of chocolate, preferably Mayordomo.

Then top your mug of hot dark chocolate with some whipped cream. As you sip, the dark chocolate comes up through the cool cream.

My favorite. By far.

But then, I like dark chocolate candy better than milk chocolate as well, so it's probably no surprise that that's the kind of hot chocolate I like best, too.

[paulraphael]

Pierre Herme has the best hot chocolate ever, and there are no fancy ingredients just cocoa, chocolate, & milk.

Oh, but he has plenty of fancy recipes. The ones I've stolen use real chocolate.

The most amazing ones don't use any dairy. If you haven't tried a dairy-free hot chocolate, it's a revelation. Supposedly this is how chocolate was served thought most of its history ... milk is a more recent addition.

The water and chocolate based drinks are like crack. The sensation is that there's nothing between you and the chocolate; it seems to pass straight from your mouth into your arteries and your brain. Incredibly intense.

So much so that I make this style of cocoa mostly as a dessert shot ... something you can have by the demitasse and not need anything else afterwards.

For a regular beverage, I soften the intensity a bit with milk, but only a small amount.

Here's one that I like, adapted from a couple of Pierre Hermé Ideas. Not truly dairy-free. Medium-intense. :

Caramel-Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

1/2 to 1 cinnamon stick

360g / 1-1/2 cups water

60g / 1/3 cup sugar

120g / 4-1/4 oz Bittersweet chocolate

24g /1/4 cup dutch cocoa

1g / 1/8 tsp salt

240g / 1 cup whole milk

-Heat sugar and cinnamon, undisturbed, in a heavy saucepan.

-boil the water separately

-when sugar starts to caramelize, stir vigorously until amber

-pour water on sugar/cinnamon, and keep stirring and heating until clumps liquefy

-whisk in cocoa

-stir in chocolate, continuing to stir until melted

-stir in milk

-keep on heat until the first bubble pops on the surface

-remove from heat and whip (with a whisk or a stick blender) until slightly frothy

[aliénor]

when we lived in barcelona we had the most marvelous hot chocolate drink. it was so thick that our churros could stand upright in the cup. does anyone know how it is done? i would love to know surprise my husband with this tasty drink

[Jaymes]

when we lived in barcelona we had the most marvelous hot chocolate drink. it was so thick that our churros could stand upright in the cup. does anyone know how it is done? i would love to know surprise my husband with this tasty drink

Assuming you speak Spanish, google "churros con chocolate recetas" and you'll find quite a few recipes.

[Jenni]

when we lived in barcelona we had the most marvelous hot chocolate drink. it was so thick that our churros could stand upright in the cup. does anyone know how it is done? i would love to know surprise my husband with this tasty drink

Not sure how authentic this recipe is: http://spanishfood.about.com/od/drinks/r/chocolate.htm

I guess if you speak Spanish it's best to google as Jaymes advised.

[jsmeeker]

What is all this "health food" hot chocolate crap!

Hot Chocolate

75 g your favorite chocolate (I like E. Guittard 61% Lever du Soleil), chopped

75 mL heavy cream

150 mL whole milk

Heat the cream to a boil and pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit 2 minutes to melt, then stir to emulsify. Heat whole milk to a simmer, add to mug with chocolate mixture, stir to combine. OK, so this is more like a drinkable candybar... but on a cold day, nuthin' better.

Wow. It's more or less a thinned out ganache! I'll have to give this method a try, along with the Pierre Herme method mentioned above.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Just got an alert about this topic from the "from Gully's desk" header, so glad I saw that.

I've been working with an almost daily cup of hot chocolate now for about two years, and playing with lots of variations. It is so satisfying that I am drinking a lot more chocolate than I am eating.

My mostly daily cup is

1 cup skim milk (because that's what I keep at home), heated in the microwave for about 90 seconds full power

1 ounce 70% scharffenberger chocolate

about 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon of a 2:1 mix of 'hot' new mexico ground chili:cinnamon powder.

I have posted more details along with my favorite flavor combinations here, including

With chili and cinnamon

With Thai lime and long pepper

With Arabian Spices

With Star Anise and Pink Pepper

With Cassia buds, Orange and Cardamom

With Mace, Star Anise, and Cinnamon

With Coconut Curry

With Basil and Long Pepper

[paulraphael]

Wow. It's more or less a thinned out ganache! I'll have to give this method a try, along with the Pierre Herme method mentioned above.

that's exactly what some restaurants do. The pastry chef always has ganache on hand, so they just have to put a dollop in some hot milk, and voilla ... instant hot chocolate that's way above average.

As you might expect, this kind of hot chocolate is very rich, but not as intensly chocolae flavored as some others.

[pastameshugana]

There's a little shop here (it's called Mocha if you're ever in Bangalore) that makes a killer hot chocolate.

On the menu, it's hot milk with a complete Lindt dark Cocoa bar melted in (I think the 69 or 71%, but not sure) and 3 After 8 mints melted in as well. I will usually have them add a shot of espresso to it... I am one of those people that thinks the combination of chocolate and mint is one of the most divine flavor combinations on earth.

Great, now I'm going to have to change my plans tonight so I can go get one.

(Edited for spelling)

Edited October 26, 2009 by pastameshugana (log)

[prasantrin]

The best hot chocolate is the stuff made with ganache. Fine Cooking did a ganache-based hot chocolate a year or two (or more) ago. It was awesome.

To me, recipes that are cocoa-based aren't hot chocolate, but hot cocoa. It's a different animal in terms of richness and flavour.

Chocolate and coffee makes a mocha.

I do like flavourings, though. Peppermint hot chocolate. Mmmmmmm. . .

[paulraphael]

The best hot chocolate is the stuff made with ganache.

That's one style of hot chocolate. It's not going to be everyone's favorite. Certainly not mine.

[prasantrin]

The best hot chocolate is the stuff made with ganache.

That's one style of hot chocolate. It's not going to be everyone's favorite. Certainly not mine.

I shall now add "For me" in every one of my posts to make it clear my statements are my opinion and not worldwide fact.

Still, milk or water + cocoa = hot cocoa. It ain't hot chocolate. That's not just my opinion.

ETA:

More eG topics for hot chocolate/hot cocoa ideas. For me , there are some really good ones in there.

Edited October 26, 2009 by prasantrin (log)

[Jenni]

Still, milk or water + cocoa = hot cocoa. It ain't hot chocolate. That's not just my opinion.

Agreed, there is hot cocoa and there is hot chocolate. Has anyone tried a hybrid of the two, where you use some chocolate and some cocoa powder? Kinda like when you make chocolate cake and you want to use chocolate and cocoa to get the characteristics of both.

[Jaymes]

I think it's just regional. Nobody would say that cocoa powder isn't "chocolate." Because clearly, without question, it is. When you make a hot drink with it, what you've got is a hot chocolate drink.

So the folks that call all hot drinks made with chocolate "hot chocolate," because that's regionally what they're accustomed to, and because regionally everybody else there calls it "hot chocolate" too and knows what they're talking about, are also literally correct.

And aren't about to change.

Or even, frankly, think it's worth a moment's consideration.

[jgm]

Just about any hot chocolate recipe can be improved, if you're in the mood to do so, by adding a bit of butterscotch schnapps.

[Jenni]

I think it's just regional. Nobody would say that cocoa powder isn't "chocolate." Because clearly, without question, it is. When you make a hot drink with it, what you've got is a hot chocolate drink.

Forgive me for being pedantic, but I definitely see them as two different things, though I enjoy both. Cocoa powder has a really deep cocoa flavour, but chocolate has cocoa butter and so seems to me to be richer. I usually make cocoa as a warming bed time drink - the cocoa flavour is intense, but it's not too rich. Hot chocolate on the other hand is a breakfast/ snack/ dessert/ treat, because it is so creamy and rich.