When the weather looks like this (my actual back yard) and people are throwing around terms like Polar Vortex nothing is more appealing than a little hot chocolate. Now I can’t hate on Swiss Miss too hard, but, Parisians are the true masters of Le Chocolat Chaud. Powder packets are a staple in American “rip and dump” cooking. But you know what tastes better? Actual melted chocolate.
Straight Up Hot Chocolate the European Way:
1 c. Milk
1/3 c. Chocolate Chips
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
Let me talk about the milk situation for a second. People are really weird about milk. I’m team skim milk and it’s honestly the only milk I’ve ever known. Now I understand that sometimes for cooking skim is not ideal but I usually just use it anyway. The milk isn’t really the star of this recipe, now is it? Just use whatever milk you have and I’m sure everything will be fine. I’m sure a heavier milk would make this taste better but it’s fine with skim milk. When I want to get fancy I might do like 3/4 skim milk and 1/4 half and half or whatever. I’m sure almond milk would also be pretty awesome here.
Anyway the direction is pretty simple. Just throw the milk in a little sauce pan (it’s better if it has a pseudo spout on the end for the sake of pouring) and put it on medium-lowish heat. It shouldn’t boil. Now I chose to get fancy and use two milks here but again the milk thing is really not a big deal. Whisk that milk until it’s a little foamy looking. Here’s an action shot.
Now turn the heat down a bit and slowly pour in the chocolate chips and brown sugar. The brown sugar is critical, it makes the stuff taste like a cookie. I caution the chip pouring because of the splash factor. This hot chocolate is so good you won’t want to waste even a single drop. When you pour in the chips stir it up until it’s all melted and the mixture is a really nice rich brown. Now it isn’t going to look dark enough but as the chocolate melts the color deepens so just be a little patient before dumping in more chocolate (I’ve made this mistake).
And that’s it! This is really strong so serve it in an espresso cup. It’s not a lot of effort and usually the ingredients are on hand but it’s way more impressive than powder packet hot chocolate. A little suggestion, if I may: skip the marshmallows. This is super sweet and it doesn’t need anything add ins. I know mini marshmallows would look adorable in this mini cup of hot chocolate, but it would just be a mistake. You have to be strong and resist.
Ingeborg Ingeblog 