Create this delectable, bone-warming drink after a romp in the snow on a wintry evening. This homemade hot chocolate mirrors the original hot chocolate drank hundreds of years ago. It can be made on any fire source (indoors or outdoors) as long as you have two pots. The drink essentially consists of melted chocolate bars with a few extra ingredients styled to your own preference. It’s really thick and sweet, unlike the watery hot chocolate made by mixing powder and water (or milk).
Chocolate drinks have been around for thousands of years, though the drink was bitter and spicy at its inception in ancient South America. Ancient Mayan and Aztec civilizations are credited for discovering the serotonin-increasing drink and European conquerors are known for sweetening it up and serving it only to the upper class. Since the drink’s introduction to Europe in the 1500s, Europeans drank a pure chocolate-and-sugar drink without any milk until the late 17th century when a physician visiting England introduced milk into the equation.
This is one recipe of which there are many variations. You can make hot white-chocolate, add in coconut flavors, serve with or without whipped cream, marshmallows and numerous other variations. This recipe is just a great starting point for fashioning your own creation. One thing that’ll be common among recipes is that they are definitely not for the calorie-counter (as all good things aren’t).
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk (any kind)
- 1 cup water
- 1 bar of milk or dark chocolate (your preference)
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3-4 drops vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (or 1 dash)
Instructions
You will need two pots to make this drink. One of the pots has to fit into the other with enough room to boil water in the bigger pot. Chocolate has a very low boiling point and therefore cannot be melted in a pot directly on a flame, no matter how low of a setting your burner is on. Fill the bigger pot with just enough water so that it covers about the bottom 1/4 of the inner, smaller pot. Bring to a boil then lower the heat so that the water simmers and place the small pot in the water so that it doesn’t tip over. *Using pots with handles that are close to each other in size, but still not the same size is best.*
In your smaller pot, pour just a little bit of the milk to cover the bottom of the pot. Place your bar of chocolate in there to slowly melt, either as a whole or broken into a few chunks (breaking along its suggested size lines is not necessary). Melt your chocolate fully, stirring often. The burner should be on low-medium to keep the water simmering but not boiling over. Add in the rest of the milk and while the mixture is warming you can add in your teaspoon of cocoa powder. Mix until your milk is warm and the cocoa powder dissolves.
Put the smaller pot into the larger pot to melt the chocolate
Once the chocolate is warm, add in the nutmeg and drop of vanilla extract (per your preference). Be careful not to add too much vanilla extract as the concoction is very potent. Now, take the inner, smaller pot out of the water and pat the bottom dry. Be careful, it will be hot! Place the small pot on the burner and keep it on low heat for a few minutes until the drink is hot enough to drink. You decide how hot you like it. But do not boil! Keep it at a low burn setting the entire time and if you want it hotter, just heat it longer. Transfer the drink to your favorite mug and put either mini marshmallows or whipped cream to top it off. Enjoy.
For spiked homemade hot chocolate, add any of the following: rum or whiskey. I prefer rum because it’s slightly sweeter than whiskey making it a great addition to hot chocolate. If those liquors don’t suit you, try something milder like an Irish cream (i.e. Baileys, Carolans), Kahlua, or any thick, sweet and creamy liqueur – even Advocaat!
This recipe [conveniently] serves two.
