April 25, 2009: Hot chocolate

'Tis the season for hot chocolate! Actually, I've not been an avid hot chocolate drinker for years. Cadbury's powdered drinking chocolate in frothed milk was an immense treat as a youngster and I've occasionally enjoyed Koko Black's more sophisticated version since moving to Melbourne, but generally I prefer my chocolate served in its solid state.

That is, until Tracy and Lee rewarded our cat-sitting with a canister of Monsieur Truffe's hot chocolate mix. These are dark chocolate buds of 70% cocoa solids, to be melted in just-boiled milk and sweetened if you must. Noticing that they're vegan, I packed them and a litre of oat milk for dessert to follow a weeknight dinner at Lisa's house. I stretched my resources among more people than the instructions recommended but I don't think anyone felt cheated - this is one rich, cocoa-packed brew. I've since enjoyed using the same method with other scraps of dark chocolate (if chocolate can ever be called 'scraps'), and have persisted with oat milk in preference to dairy or soy.

The recipe below makes just one of my slightly smaller portions. I think I'll start trialling a pinch or two of ground spice (ginger, cardamom, cinnamon or chilli!) to keep things interesting.

Hot chocolate
40g dark chocolate - in buds, grated, or pulverised in a food processor
200mL milk (not necessarily dairy)
sugar, to taste (my taste usually being none!)
a pinch or two of ground spice (optional)

Bring the milk just to the boil in a small saucepan, then reduce the heat to low-medium. Add the chocolate, sugar and spice, stirring until the chocolate is completely melted. (Scrape the bottom of the saucepan as you stir, that's where it likes to lurk!) Pour the hot chocolate into a mug and sip, slowly and appreciatively.