Darkdrop chocolate

I figured: why not? I shall endeavour to educate your tastebuds. Delicious friends.

I don’t drink either coffee or tea, so my hot caffeinated beverage of choice is hot chocolate. This is fine and good until I want to drink one when I’m not at home – enter the insipid, milky, saccharine drink which passes for hot chocolate in the Western world. I cannot drink that shite (je m’excuse), so over the years I’ve come up with my own recipe based on memory and imagination and now, for the second time ever, here it is in print. I hope (if you can be bothered to make it) you like it!
N.B. I had never actually measured out the exact quantities listed below before I wrote this recipe, so they’re by no means set in stone :]

SERVES TWO
2 cups of milk
4 tablespoons full cream
Approx. 60 grams dark chocolate (I usually just use dark cooking chocolat, nothing fancy)
2.5 tablespoons good-quality (preferably pure, no sugar or extra stuff) cocoa powder
2-4 tablespoons brown sugar, to taste
1 teaspoon(ish) orange zest (easiest if peeled/zested rather than grated)
A bit less than a half-teaspoon each of powdered cinnamon and ginger
A pinch of cayenne pepper
A teaspoon/half-teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, a half-pod of vanilla bean seeds, or a dash of vanilla essence
OPTIONAL:
Cloves/cardamom pods/star anise or other miscellaneous nommy spices
Half-teaspoon of Maca powder (thickener, slightly nutty taste)

Set the milk, cream, and chocolate on medium heat in a saucepan, whisking occasionally until chocolate melts.
Add orange zest (optional whole spices) and increase temperature until the mix begins to boil (but not so hot as to scald the milk).
Take off heat and whisk in the cocoa thoroughly, then add sugar and whisk until dissolved.
Replace saucepan on low-medium heat and add powdered spices, pepper and vanilla, then whisk until smooth.
Raise heat/leave to cool until temperature is to preference (best served super-hot in my opinion).
Pour through a coarse sieve (to remove orange zest and any whole spices) into two small bowls or mugs.

Enjoy your halfway-decent hot chocolate!
edited by Corentin Os on 9/10/2012
edited by Corentin Os on 9/12/2012

Sounds yummy. I rarely drink hot chocolate, but when I do, I always make it with cooking chocolate and milk, and sometimes cream, instead of buying powder. I’ll have to try adding some or all of these other ingredients.

I finally got around to making this last night during a major storm that knocked out my internet (otherwise I would have posted this yesterday). It is simply put, the best hot chocolate I have ever had (even though I think I added a touch too much cinnamon). It is nice to know that my palate has not been totally undone by the Swiss Miss. Thank you very much for posting this recipe.

I’m glad you enjoyed it! Granted, I think I over-estimated how much cinnamon/ginger I usually put in, it’s probably closer to a little-less-than-quarter-teaspoon :]