Hot Cocoa Mix: Test 1
In this hot cocoa mix I aimed for a rich, lush cup of hot cocoa with the idea that adding real chocolate should improve flavor and texture. This recipe incorporates a lot of high quality bittersweet chocolate as well as cocoa to try to achieve a perfect chocolatey cup.
- 1½ cups cocoa powder
- 18 oz bittersweet chocolate (chopped fine)
- 2 Tbsps vanilla paste
- 1 tsp salt
- 1¼ cups confectioner’s sugar
- 6 cups dried milk
The cocoa powder, vanilla, and chopped chocolate were processed in batches in the food processor until it all resembled a powder. This mixture was sifter and the process repeated until everything was fine enough to go through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl. I had no issues with this process but if your mixture starts to get sticky or your chocolate looks like it’s melting, add some of the confectioner’s sugar to keep things a nice even powder.
The other ingredients were added in and everything was whisked together.
From my testing, I found that 4 Tbsp of mixture per cup of liquid is best. A thin milk, such as nonfat milk or a milk substitute is better because it’s less heavy and less dominant in the drink. For me I used half water and half whole milk because it’s what I had in the house.
I think this resulted in a pretty decent cup of hot cocoa but it wasn’t anything to write home about. I thought that adding in real chocolate would give it a stronger chocolate flavor but in reality I found it to just add a sort of grittiness as the chocolate had trouble melting despite the effort to powder it. This recipe was good but I think I could still do better.
References
Exploratory Kitchen
Exploratory Kitchen 