On a cold winter’s day there are few refreshments as appealing as a steaming cup of hot chocolate. However, true connoisseurs would never deign to imbibe the feeble mixture of cocoa powder, sugar and powdered milk that many of us add to hot water and call “hot chocolate”. If you are a true aficionado whose heart stirs at the sound of the words hot molten chocolate, read on.
Chocolate cognoscenti concur that the essential ingredient in any decent recipe is high-quality chocolate made with good cocoa – but that’s pretty much where agreement ends. How dark the chocolate should be and how to properly blend the ingredients are topics of hot debate. Below are some tips offered by the experts. Try them and report back to us – or share your secret recipe – by posting to Twitter or Instagram using both #FollowTheFrog and #ThePerfectCuppa.
Jacques Torres, the Brooklyn-based chocolatier known as Mr Chocolate, uses chocolate with a 60% to 70% cocoa content as the basis for his recipe. His secret? Bring the milk to a boil, reduce the heat, then add the chocolate while whisking – and allow the concoction to boil again. He tops it all off with homemade whipped cream.
Nigel Slater, food writer for the Observer and renowned culinary author, grates dark chocolate into almost-boiling milk, stirs and adds just a smidgen of sugar. His trick? Use the most bitter chocolate possible, 70% to 100%, then sweeten to taste.
Cookbook author Adrianna Adarme, provides this “fancy” recipe inspired by her Peruvian mum’s special Christmas Eve treat. Adarme’s method: she melts the chocolate in a double boiler before adding it to warm milk. She likes steeping the milk with a cinnamon stick or quarter of a vanilla bean first, too.
David Liebowitz, author of The Great Book of Chocolate, recommends a recipe from Wittamer, one of the best chocolate shops in Brussels (arguably the birthplace of chocolate snobbery). This recipe calls for both bittersweet chocolate and a touch of milk chocolate, which for Liebowitz means 30% to 40% cocoa content. His secret? A pinch of salt. He also melts the chocolate in a bit of milk, before whisking in the rest of the liquid.
Last but not least, you can enjoy the Rainforest Alliance’s very own recipe spiced with cardamom and other intriguing flavours – and made all the sweeter with the knowledge that Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa is cultivated in ways that protect nature and improve the lives of farmers, as well as their families and communities.
Learn more about the Rainforest Alliance’s work to protect lives, lands and livelihoods around the world.
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