October 23rd, 2009
how to make HOT CHOCOLATE ON A STICK
Oh how I love when the weather turns cold enough for hot chocolate. Something about a good cup of hot chocolate makes the world feel like a gentler place.
This idea is something I’ve been wanting to try for a couple winters now. I’m glad I finally took a day to puzzle it through and do a little taste testing, because it turned out to be so simple, and the results so delightful. Stir one of these sticks into a cup of steaming milk or cream and in two minutes you will have transformed it into a cup of rich hot chocolate, the blessed stuff. I can’t help feel that the act of stirring adds to the experience, soothing you over while building up the anticipation for that first sip.
And for those of you who appreciate a little froth, this recipe lends itself to some serious frothiness. In fact, if you’re at a loss for a holiday gift, whip up a few of these sticks and throw in this very affordable frother and you’ve got a bundle of pure happiness to give away. Or visit my gift index here for more edible gift ideas or here for more party favor ideas.
First things first: what chocolate to buy
The trick to making the best hot chocolate on a stick is using good, serious chocolate that melts easily. A chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter will do that. More cocoa butter means quicker melting. A bag of every-day chocolate chips won’t melt as fast. You can also find fake chocolate (like a bag of Wilton’s candy melts), which uses vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter. It will melt well, but the resulting cup of hot chocolate won’t be as transcendent. And we’re going for transcendent here. If you really want to go gourmet, use couverture (made for dipping truffles, which has up to 39% cocoa butter, such as this
Word of warning: no water!
There is one thing you need to know before working with chocolate if you don’t already: never let water touch it. Not a drop. You can be stirring a potful of smooth, decadent melted chocolate, then get one drop of water in it and the whole thing will get grainy and seize up and you have to scoop the whole mess into the garbage. It’s a sad experience. Don’t let it happen to you.
So then, if you’re planning to introduce vanilla, use a vanilla bean or vanilla paste, not vanilla extract. If you want to add food coloring, use a gel or powdered form, not the liquid stuff.
Hot Chocolate on a Stick
Yield: 10 cubes of hot chocolate (ice-cube-tray size)
(use 1 oz. hot chocolate on a stick per every 1 cup milk or cream)
Equipment:
Ziplock bags or piping bags
A double boiler or pan with a glass bowl that can sit over the simmering water
Some kind of chocolate mold, ice trays work great
Stir sticks or a bag of wooden craft sticks like I used (like these,
Ingredients:
8 oz. chocolate (with at least 70% cocoa butter, see note above), bittersweet, semisweet, milk, and white chocolate all work
1/4 cup cocoa, Dutch processed if possible, sifted
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
6 cups milk and 2 cups heavy cream if you plan to enjoy these right away
Method
- If your chocolate is in a block, chop it into meltable pieces. Simmer a couple inches of water in a pan and place glass bowl over the top to make a double boiler. Be sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water beneath it, and regulate the heat so the water stays at a simmer. Dump chocolate into the clean, dry bowl and stir as the chocolate melts.
- Once the chocolate is 2/3 melted, with just some pieces of the chocolate unmelted, remove the pan from the heat and continue stirring until chocolate is fully melted.
- Add cocoa, sugar, and salt and continue to stir until combined.
- Lift the bowl off the pan and use a towel to dry off any drips of water. Pour chocolate into a ziplock bag and clip off the corner.
- Pipe the chocolate into your chocolate mold, tapping the mold on the counter to make sure all the chocolate settles into the mold. Add a stir stick and you’re done. The stir stick should stay upright without any trouble.
- Let the chocolate cool either at room temperature or in the fridge if you’re in a hurry.
- If you don’t like the look of the chocolate once it is removed from the mold, you can dip the cubes into a new batch of plain melted chocolate for a shinier finish. This also lets you add sprinkles or crushed candy or just lets you dip in fun patterns. I like dipping at an angle into a different color of chocolate.
- In order to enjoy these, heat up any combo of milk, water, half and half, or cream. I like 6 cups milk with 2 cups heavy cream. One ounce of chocolate on a stick should be melted into one cup milk or cream. So a standard ice cube-tray block, which is 3/4 an ounce, should be melted into a mug with 3/4 cup milk or cream in it.
How to store it: Chocolate will keep in an airtight container for up to a year. Don’t keep it in the fridge because it is really good at absorbing odors.
Variations: Try adding a pinch of cardamom, anise, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, malted milk powder, or cayenne pepper, depending on your mood. We tried adding a little extra punch by lining the outside with red hots. Very fun. You can also leave out the cocoa and sugar all together and replace it with 8 servings of your favorite packaged hot cocoa. Have you ever had so much fun? I love playing with chocolate.
As you can see, we played around with a few different molds, like this water bottle ice cube mold from IKEA. The classic ice cube mold was my favorite though. It works best for submersing the entire block of meltable chocolate in a standard mug.
UPDATE: Love Prince Pi’s suggestion of molding these in shot glasses. Also love how the Kitchn (yea!! they tried my recipe!!) made do with a single pan. TinaMarie also made the great suggestion of using small Dixie cups.
This was fun too. My son thought the resulting blocks looked like the shape of strawberries.
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