A Warm, Creamy Cup of Cocoa
December 9th, 2008 by adice
I had mentioned on Twitter this weekend that I was going
to make some real hot cocoa, not the kind that you mix up with
water (though that can be really good if you pour in enough Irish
Cream). And very kindly, rkruzan from Kitsap shared
a great recipe with me.
So last night, as I enjoyed our newly hung lights and took photos of my Christmas tree and listened to the Vince Guaraldi Trio (think Charlie Brown, courtesy of another Twitter suggestion), I tried the recipe. The result was a lightly sweet, creamy and ultimately comforting concoction. The whip cream topping adds a nice little change to it. I should have been more patient about whipping my cream, so you’ll see there isn’t a nice dollop in my photo, but it sure still tasted pretty good.
Without further wait, here’s the recipe as shared:
Patient Hot Chocolate
The recipe is easy. Making it requires patience. Even when sped up,
it can take a while, but to me it seems to taste better when made
slowly and patiently. The recipe uses Abuelita, a dark chocolate
with large sugar crystals and cinnamon. It is incredibly flavorful
without being too sweet. To top it off I use a homemade whipped
cream with a special touch.
For the cocoa:
1 quart saucepan
a metal or wooden whisk
1 round of Abuelita chocolate (in most ethnic food aisles, 6 in a
box)
milk enough for 4 mugs
For the topping:
1 cup of cold whipping cream
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of Kahlua
Actions:
Place one round in the pan, leave whole. Slowly melt just under
medium heat. This chocolate doesn’t puddle out like chocolate
you’re used to. It will hold it’s shape, but soften. Check for
softness often. When you can press the whisk through it, ad
d 1/2 cup of milk
and begin whisking it. Bring the temp up as you whisk but do not
boil, if it starts to bubble, back it off a little.
You need to whisk frequently, the large sugar crystals in this chocolate will dissolve and smooth out as the milk warms but you want to keep it moving.
When there are no large pieces and it no longer has a gritty feel, stir in the rest of the milk and bring up to serving temp. This can take about 20 minutes overall.
To finish, add all three ingredients together and use a handheld beater to make the whipped cream. Add just a dollop on top of each hot cup. Enjoy.
Tags: cocoa
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
December 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Almost anything is pretty darn good if you add enough Irish Cream!
December 13th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Our family shares recipes with a collective website/cookbook (version 2 is out this Christmas, but you gotta change your surname to Nelson or make pickled herring to get the print version). There’s a from-scratch hot chocolate recipe by my Bremerton-native cousin Becky in there. It’s pretty good, so I’ll share here for anyone who wants to expand their cocoa-experimenting:
2 TBSP dutched cocoa
2 TBSP superfine sugar (the finer the better, or stir with a flat whisk as the syrup is made)
1/4 cup water
1 3/4 cups 2 percent milk
1/4 cup shaved dark chocolate
2 TSP ground cinnamon
-Boil cocoa, sugar, water in saucepan
—Toss in the cinnamon (or other spices you prefer), and turn heat down to low-medium. Slowly add milk while stirring, then ease off on the stirring as the cocoa returns to drinking temperature. Then add the shaved chocolate and any other sugar to taste.
—Tips: Don’t bring it back to a boil after the milk’s in there (don’t want skin forming on the top); don’t skimp on the milk (i.e. go with less than 2 percent); or the dark chocolate (get the kind with 65 percent cocoa, and shave it rather than adding as chunks, to keep it smooth).