UKC

Hot chocolate: best brand and favourite additions e.g. alcohol!

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Jimbo W 19 Dec 2013
In need of a winter warmer. I just got some M&S drinking chocolate.. ..pretty much the best straight up hot chocolate I've tasted yet. I shall be trying tonight with a little cinnamon and a dash of brandy!

What's your favourite hot chocolate source, or do you make your own? And what do you add to spice it up!
 csw 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

This is the recipe I use when I'm trying to impress someone:


Alcohol can be added to taste, as can honey. As for chocolate, the darker the better. The recipe assumes a standard sized bar (about 100g)

Ingredients:

Half a pint of milk

Half a bar of chocolate

Cream (whipped)

A couple of cinnamon sticks

Method:

Boil a pan of water. Remove from heat. Break the chocolate into a bowl and place over the pan and allow to melt. DON'T LET ANY WATER TOUCH THE CHOCOLATE!

Drop the milk and the cinnamon sticks into another pan and simmer over a low heat for 5 mins or so until the cinnamon has flavoured the milk. Remove and discard the cinnamon sticks

Pour the hot milk into the melted chocolate and whisk to mix. Serve in Irish coffee glasses topped with whipped cream. Sprinkle with grated chocolate for overkill

If you're adding alcohol, this is best poured into the glass before the chocolate.

Serves two, in theory
 Yanis Nayu 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

Add Baileys. I like the Cadbury powder stuff that you mix with hot milk.
Jimbo W 19 Dec 2013
In reply to csw:

That sounds awesome.. ..I've made a chocolate sauce before, which involved similar methods, but that sounds pretty damn nice. Presumably you mean half a big bar, and would nicking the wife's chocolat patisserie cooking chocolate do the job.

Anyone ever add chilli, if so, in what form?
 BAdhoc 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

Cadbury bournville chocolate with brandy nom nom
 csw 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

Depends what you mean by big bar - I'm thinking of those 80% cocoa bars you get in sainsburys - about 8"x4" or thereabouts. I've never used cooking chocolate so I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't use it.
Jimbo W 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Submit to Gravity:

Not really a cadbury drinking chocolate fan, but often have the bournville cocoa powder, which is especially flexible given the lack of sugar.
 isi_o 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

csw's recipe sounds great, must try it soon. My personal favourite is to add a bit of amaretto… Better even than Baileys I think!
Isi
 hokkyokusei 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

Wittards. Made with milk. Add rum to taste.
 tlm 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

Charbonnel is the best ready made one. It's like grated chocolate lumps in a beautiful tin:

http://www.charbonnel.co.uk/products/drinking-chocolate.html

I also like two teaspoons of cocoa, with a teeny bit of sugar and lots of black pepper, made with just hot water. It's just like high cocoa chocolate, bitter and strong, but in a hot liquid form!
 Simon Alden 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

Definitely Frangelico...roasted hazelnut taste mmm
 Joe Lemmer 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

Whittards stuff is absolutely brilliant. I recommend the Chocolate and Chilli one.
MaxWilliam 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

Hotel Chocolat is very good.
Green and Blacks is very good too.
Or mixing various brands to your taste...

If you like Caotina, you can get it in UK, it is branded as Twinings (doesn't taste the same without Swiss milk though.)


 nathan79 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

I often add a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper. Adds a nice kick (along with the splash of cognac that usually goes along with it)
Jimbo W 19 Dec 2013
In reply to tlm:

> Charbonnel is the best ready made one. It's like grated chocolate lumps in a beautiful tin:


> I also like two teaspoons of cocoa, with a teeny bit of sugar and lots of black pepper, made with just hot water. It's just like high cocoa chocolate, bitter and strong, but in a hot liquid form!

I'll have to try that.. ..less of a meal, but more of a kick! I prefer less sweet chocolate too. Will try that tomorrow with some chilli.
Jimbo W 19 Dec 2013
In reply to nathan79:

I'm going to experiment with cayenne, mild chilli powder, hot chilli, hot paprika, and grind up some hot dried chillis!
 emmathefish 19 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

Charbonnel Et Walker drinking chocolate without a doubt best quality hot chocolate you can buy, forget M&S!
 tlm 20 Dec 2013
In reply to Jimbo W:

I think it might be nice with a hint of lime, or some ginger, too... or a bit of orange oil. All the nice things that you get mixed with plain, high cocoa content chocolate. How about with a bit of Cointreau?
In reply to Jimbo W:

My first skiing trip was to Bulgaria (in 1996). The method they used to make hot chocolate was to microwave milk and chocolate, and whisk. Then add something like green chartreuse. I confess it was pretty damned good...

I guess when you're making hundreds of cups a day, you get pretty slick with the microwave times needed to melt chocolate and heat milk perfectly to that they mix easily. They probably softened the chocolate before adding milk, but I'd guess they'd need to add hot milk, or it would freeze the melted chocolate. It was a while back, and my memory is hazy...

I'm still using a 2-kilo bag I rescued from a skip at the end of a ski season (a nearby chalet must have been chucking out unused stock; I got some catering bags of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, too..). Very finely milled powder, and very nice...
 Pete Dangerous 20 Dec 2013
43 Cuarenta Y Tres is superb in hot chocolate or coffee

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...