BWW Cooks: Hot Chocolate Drinks For Cold Weather

It's winter. It's cold out. You need something to warm you up from the inside out. Something that will stand up to frozen fingers being wrapped around the cup, something that will sink down to frozen toes and thaw them out. Of course, that's hot chocolate. Or, er, cocoa. You know, whatever it is that's in that little white packet that came out of the box. Pour hot water in the mug and stir, or get more complicated if you're trying to make it by the cup in a microwave with everything dissolved. That stuff.

But wait. Skip the pre-packaged, powdered milk taste of the instant stuff. Skip the dry, dusty stuff that balls up into little non-dissolving pellets as the hot water goes in the cup. You can do better. And you will.

First up, is it hot chocolate or hot cocoa? They're not the same thing, regardless of the colloquial term usage that suggests they are. We don't know what the first chocolate drinks, made by the Aztecs, were like, other than they were spiced and that they were probably chocolate, rather than cocoa powder, based. We do know that modern hot chocolate is a French beverage, made from milk, cream, sugar, and dark, preferably bittersweet, chocolate. If you have ever drunk a café hot drink that tastes like chocolate and is thick like syrup, it's definitely a hot chocolate, not a cocoa. If you're making hot chocolate, adjustment of ingredients will produce a chocolate as thin or as thick as you wish.

Cocoa is made, as its name suggests, with cocoa powder. Cocoa powder and sugar are mixed, either in a mug or in the pot, and stirred well into a paste with milk or cream. Hot or boiling water is added, and it I stirred again. It is not as rich or as luscious as hot chocolate, since cocoa lacks the cocoa butter found in chocolate, but the chocolate flavor is far more intense. And if you're thinking as you read, you've already caught that making cocoa from scratch for a single serving is barely more work than opening the packet, but with greater capability of adjusting flavors and with a far fresher taste because of using fresh milk or cream.

Before proceeding further, a pause is needed to make something clear. Cocoa could be made effectively, if not perfectly, with lowfat milk. It won't be as infinitely delicious but it will work and you'll still have a wonderful, intense chocolate blast. Soymilk, almond milk, coconut milk - try any of them and you'll wind up with a good to great hot drink. I've recently made it with a really yummy walnut-almond milk, to great effect. Hot chocolate, on the other hand, is intended to be ridiculously rich. Use at least part half-and-half or light cream if possible, or the richest, highest-fat or thickest-textured soy or nut milk you can find. The entire effect of hot chocolate is its richness, so don't try being clever and skimping on it.

Both can be flavored. Those coffee syrups you don't use enough work well in your chocolate beverages. Vanilla syrup, or a drop or two of vanilla extract, will always improve your drink. Raspberry? Irish cream? Caramel? They're far more fun in your chocolate drink than in your coffee. Mint flavoring is also great. Alcoholic beverages were made for cocoa - Irish cream, crème de menthe, Kahlua, crème do cacao to intensify the chocolate flavor. Sabra, Triple Sec, crème de framboise - they're all worth the flavor. And, of course, brandy or rum will guarantee that the heat of your cocoa makes it all the way down to your toes. If you must watch your alcohol, add a drop of brandy or rum flavor to the drink. You can also add a dash of cinnamon to cocoa, mixed in with the cocoa powder and sugar, for a hint of Mexican flavor - coffee liqueur will be perfect with that.

And you can also split the difference of your drink. Richness or chocolate intensity? Make a cocoa-and-water base in a heavy pot, and then melt your chocolate in, and add your milk to, the cocoa slurry. This, like a basket of furry kittens, reaches the level of "too great to live". Don't forget to add vanilla, a tiny amount, and a splash of rum. And whipped cream on top, to celebrate your having created the perfect cold-weather drink.

Need low-calorie or low-carb beverages? Diabetic? Skip the sugar-free cocoa mix; use a little stevia with your cocoa powder, or dissolve your cocoa in sugar-free flavored syrup and a little milk or cream.

Hot chocolate and cocoa both have the advantage that small-scale recipes can be doubled, tripled, what have you, pretty much endlessly. Most recipes these days are scaled for mugs, with approximately 10-to-12 ounce servings. But if you're making posh, thick hot chocolate, there's a reason that fancy porcelain chocolate sets have cups that are roughly twice the size of an espresso cup; you can't drink a lot of it at once.

For basic cocoa, consider about 6 ounces of boiling water and two tablespoons of cream or half-and-half, or whatever your dairy-like component will be. A tablespoon of cocoa and a tablespoon of sugar (or equivalent diet sweetener) should be mixed together in the mug, and made into a smooth paste with the cream. Add the water slowly, stirring to make sure everything is properly combined.

Hot chocolate recipes are plentiful but take more work, as you must be careful not to boil your dairy ingredients as you melt the chocolate.

Italian versions of thick European hot chocolate use cornstarch to achieve thickness, but that's not necessary. For four to six chocolate-cup sized servings of French hot chocolate, in much the style of Café Angelina, try 1 ½ cups of whole milk, ½ cup of heavy cream, a tablespoon of powdered sugar, and 8 ounces of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate, the best quality you can find. Consider ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract as well, or the same of instant espresso powder. Use a medium sized heavy saucepan and whisk everything but the chocolate, frequently, until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Don't let the dairy boil! When you've reached the proper temperature, stir in the chopped chocolate and let it melt; put it back on the burner over low heat if more warmth is needed to melt the chocolate. If it seems as if you could eat it easily with a spoon, you've reached the perfect consistency. This is not an after-skiing or after-shoveling warmer; it's more of a café beverage, perfect for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up or an after-dinner dessert beverage to be served with thin, buttery cookies or biscuits.

Whether you need a cold weather warm-up or a chocolate high from a thick, creamy dessert beverage, there's a chocolate drink for you, without the powdered drink mix. It's easy and quick to make them yourself, and you'll be glad that you did.

Photo credit: FreeImages.com

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