A winter treat…
Besides snow, the best most wintery treat in the world is a steaming mug of hot chocolate. It’s the stuff of dreams and happiness to sip sweet creamy chocolate as the bitter cold winter day drifts by. I have been experimenting with brewing batches and mugs of hot chocolate for many years trying to perfect the art of this particular beverage. While I would say my experiments are far from over, I have found some blends and brews that I truly enjoy.
In my experiments with brewing hot chocolate, I have settled on four approaches or styles of the drink that appeal in their own unique ways: Classic, Creamy, Flavored, and Extra Chocolatey.
Classic hot chocolate…
The classic hot chocolate is the kind that come from a package or a mix which is blended with hot water or milk and served with marshmallows on top. This is the quintessential Christmas time hot cocoa drink. In the past the classic hot chocolate approach was not my personal preference. I usually would like a creamy hot chocolate over a watery one and the powdered instant mixes were overly sweet or oddly flavored. However, over the past couple years this mode of hot cocoa has become my go-to. I found a blume brand superfood latte reishi hot cacao mix that I absolutely love! I mix about two to three teaspoons in boiling water and top off the mug with cream and sometimes marshmallows. The flavor is complex and delicious. It doesn’t taste like chemicals and it’s untweeted. Personally I prefer a less sweet base drink that I can add sweetener to if I want some, but I find this drink is good unsweetened and I rarely add anything sweet beyond mini marshmallows to the top. It’s a perfect soothing wintery cup of hot cocoa and with all the ease of the instant packet mixes!
Creamy hot chocolate…
The creamy version of hot chocolate comes mostly from using a fuller fat milk or cream base. My recommendation is to heat the cream and whisk in a generous amount of high quality cacao powder (maybe two tablespoons). Be sure to set the heat to medium-low heat so as not to burn the milk or cream. I always add vanilla to a creamy blend, and if possible, I use a vanilla bean. Vanilla enhances the creamy flavor of the milk. Just cut the vanilla bean pod open to scrape out some of the seeds and place them directly in the blend then add the remains of the pod and seeds to the brew. Instead of sweetening creamy hot chocolate, I make homemade whipped cream sweetened with high quality maple syrup, which I add to the top of the beverage. It’s cream on cream for the best ever creamy hot chocolate! For sweeter versions, add any kind of sweetener directly to the milk or cream base as it’s heating.
Flavored hot chocolate…
Often it can be refreshing to have a little variety in the flavor of a prepared beverage. At Christmas time peppermint and candy cane flavors are a fun and festive addition to a brew of hot chocolate. I use either peppermint extra or I just swirl a candy cane around in my drink. This works with any of the types of hot chocolate described here. Vanilla is a common and lovely additional flavor, as is cinnamon, nutmeg, and almond. Add flavor in whole or ground spice form or add liquid extra directly to the beverage, the brew, or the whipped cream topping.
Extra chocolatey hot chocolate…
Chocolate lovers gather round, I have something special for you. My extra chocolatey hot chocolate recipe comes from a hot chocolate I had decades ago at a café near the conservatory of music in Moscow. It was not like any hot chocolate I had ever had before. It was a thick drink of chocolate, like drinking a heated up semi-sweet chocolate bar. It was profoundly delicious but difficult to finish. You don’t need much to sip on when it’s something quite that dense. My version is a variation of what I tasted in that far away place during that far away time which is rich in chocolate flavor but not quite so thick. To make it, slowly heat up one cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips on medium-low heat. This takes some time, be patient. As the chips begin to melt you can begin to slowly stir them into a chocolate puddle. Next very slowly add about a quarter cup of whipping cream at a time, blending thoroughly before adding the next quarter cup. Continue until 1 cup of whipping cream has been blended in. Turn up the heat just a touch toward true medium to bring the temperature up. Add about ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper and one cinnamon stick. Continue slowly stirring for at least 10 minutes. This chocolate sauce is your hot chocolate drink base. Using a spatula transfer the chocolate sauce into a container for storage (I keep the cinnamon stick in with the chocolate sauce in the container). To make the hot cocoa, add about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the chocolate sauce to 1 cup boiling water or heated milk and stir thoroughly for a rich, sweet, chocolatey delight!
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