This hot chocolate is made with real ingredients, just chocolate, milk, and vanilla, and paired with a three-ingredient whipped cream to finish. It's the perfect winter drink!
Ingredients
For the hot chocolate:
10ozsemisweet chocolate
2cupsmilk
1/4tspvanilla extract
For the whipped cream:
1/4cupheavy cream
1tbspsugar
1tbspfrangelico
Instructions
First let us talk about chopping the chocolate. Just as when we make chocolate truffles, we need to get the chocolate broken into small pieces/shavings so that the milk can melt the chocolate completely and evenly. You may have noticed in certain recipes where you have used chocolate chips instead of block chocolate shavings that it didn’t melt properly. That’s because the chocolate chips are unevenly shaped and larger than your chocolate pieces should be. Chop the chocolate well with a knife.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla to 190 degrees F, which is about scalding temperature. If you don’t have an instant read thermometer, you know it’s scalded when it’s just before the boiling point, is steaming like crazy, and bubbles have formed on the sides. Split the chopped chocolate evenly into your mugs, and pour the scalded milk in, letting it sit for a minute so the heat of the milk can really melt the chocolate. Stir and taste. Is it too thick and chocolatey for you? Add more milk. Is it too thin? Add more chocolate.
If you have little bits of unmelted chocolate in your hot chocolate, this means your shavings weren’t thin enough. You can just pop your mug in the microwave to melt it more.
To make the whipped cream, whip the cream with a mixer (or by hand…I do it by hand sometimes, though it will take a lot of elbow grease) until the cream thickens slightly, then add the sugar and liqueur. Whip to soft peaks, and spoon on top of your hot chocolate.