Hot chocolate

 

It's late August, and the weather is hot.  The sun is bold, and the humidity is high.  Yet we aren't that far away from the change of the season to autumn.  I'm already thinking ahead to copious rainfall, cloudy afternoons, leaves falling, and holidays that seem to be in such a hurry that they trip over each other in their push to get us to the end of the year.

So what am I thinking about during what may be the last bit of real hot weather for the summer?  Why, hot chocolate, of course.

I love hot chocolate any time of the year.  Some people tell me that's crazy.  But people love hot coffee all year, so why not hot chocolate!

Some people mistakenly call any chocolate drink "hot chocolate", including all those mixes that come in single serving packets to which is added hot water or hot milk.  But in reality, most of those are made with cocoa powder and no chocolate, and that means hot cocoa.  You want real hot chocolate, you have to use actual chocolate.  And when you do, it is definitely worth it!

Here's an easy hot chocolate recipe:

180 g  bittersweet chocolate, 60% cacao

100 g  milk chocolate

32   g  cocoa powder

40   g  sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

a pinch of cardamom

a pinch of salt

The higher the quality of chocolate you use, the better the flavor and smoothness you will get.  (And by chocolate, I do not mean chocolate chips.)  Break up the chocolate into relatively small pieces.  Then toss the pieces into a food processor.  Add all the remaining ingredients and then pulse the processor many times in medium-length spurts.  I don't like to run it continuously because the blade generates heat, and I don't want to melt the chocolate.  Instead, I want to chop it relatively fine.  If you have some chunks of chocolate left over, don't worry, it's OK.

Now heat up milk and add it to a measured quantity of the mix.  The hotter the milk, the better.  You want this hot milk to melt all that chocolate in the mix.  You can use the microwave, or a saucepan, either is OK.  Generally, 1/4 cup of this mix per 1 cup of milk is a good ratio.  When they are combined, stir it until the chocolate is all melted.  Voila!  There it is!

You can vary the spices to whatever you want, but this combination is one I particularly like.

I've had several cups this week already even as the summer is trying to enforce it's will one last time (I hope!) before autumn arrives.  I love it any time of day.  I especially like to add a bit of almond-flavored whipped cream.

Anyway, give it a try and let your mind wander to the cooler months and holidays ahead.