Hello and happy holidays!
I'm planning to have a Christmas get together and would like to make some hot chocolate for guests that don't drink coffee. It would be good to have a simple recipe for a powder (or a syrup) that I can just add to milk and then steam it with my espresso machine.

Any ideas?

Thank you!
James

Hey James,

I often make hot chocolate for folks when I have coffee get-togethers for the same reason you stated (non-coffee drinkers at my house).

I like to keep it simple. Basic ingredients are milk and Hershey's syrup. I'll steam the milk in the pitcher and then add the Hershey's to taste (pretty much the same proportion as if you're making chocolate milk) and stir.

I tend to stretch the milk a little bit extra, kind of like for a capp so it's a little bit sweeter and fancier than a regular hot chocolate. Microfoam is key.

Sometimes to fancy it up, I'll add some Readi-Whip on the top and drizzle a little bit more Hershey's on that.

For a little holiday twist, you may consider some sort of mint flavoring. Maybe just float a mint candy (I like those Andes Candies or even a candy cane) on top of the microfoam or stick it half-way in the Readi-Whip or something along those lines.

Oh, also, soy milk works great too.

Hope this helps.

How about doing something I first saw at Simon's in Cambridge, MA? I found a YouTube video that does a good job of describing it:



I take no credit for the video - I just found it in a search.

I think you need to steam milk with chocolate powder in it (so the chocolate powder gets nicely mixed into the milk), pour a bit into the cup (about as much as an espresso shot, 1-2 oz), and then make a layer of chocolate powder that works like crema for your artistic pour.

Good luck!

Hot cocoa! Yum! It's not just for the holidays, you know. I make it frequently. My recipe:

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup baker's (or regular) sugar
3 Tbsp. powdered vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)
pinch of piment d'espelette (or cayenne pepper)

Mix all the ingredients and store in a Mason jar or other container. It makes about a half dozen servings.

To prepare, put 3-4 Tbsp. in a cup, spritz a little hot water into it and stir to incorporate. It should look like a thick espresso. Then just foam milk as usual and pretend you are making a latte. Yum!

*if you don't have powdered vanilla, you can add a few drops of liquid extract with the water instead.

*The lazy way is to just squirt an equal amount of chocolate syrup into the cup and prepare the same way. Easy! Although not quite as tasty.... '_'

That looks like a fantastic recipe. I have some penzeys natural process cocoa that I use for baking but should be great for hot chocolate.

You don't seem to need to froth the milk with the cocoa (and other ingredients) already in it. Is this correct?

my recipe: (quick recipe, approx per cup)
-2tbl chocolate powder
-2tbl dark brown sugar
-dash of salt
-dash of vanilla extract
-1-2oz of boiling water
-5-6oz steamed milk
-chocolate powder or flakes

Use the boiling water to mix the chocolate powder and dark brown sugar until they liquefy and blend smoothly.
Add the dash of salt and vanilla and mix.
Pour the steamed milk over the top, garnish with flakes or powder.

For larger servings, you can heat the powder and sugar with milk on the stove, then add the frothed milk over that. it makes it a bit more creamy.

Thanks! Those are great recipes that I can try at the upcoming party. Also, Dan, the video you posted shows a good idea, too. Who knew you could pour latte art with cocoa!

aindfan wrote:I think you need to steam milk with chocolate powder in it (so the chocolate powder gets nicely mixed into the milk), pour a bit into the cup (about as much as an espresso shot, 1-2 oz), and then make a layer of chocolate powder that works like crema for your artistic pour.

Good luck!

I cover the bottom of the cup with sifted cocoa powder and it amounts to something similar, but I think doing the way you describe is better. The powder should still be sifted though. Otherwise you'll end up with lumps.

Last year we had a big Christmas party and I served a lot of hot chocolate to the kids (and some adults) with the help of my espresso machine. I just used Ghiradelli hot chocolate powder, added a couple of ounces of steamed milk, stirred the mixture a bit, then added more steamed milk on top. You can even pour latte art. It looks a lot like a latte, only sweeter. Yum.

GC7 wrote:You don't seem to need to froth the milk with the cocoa (and other ingredients) already in it. Is this correct?

If the sugar and cocoa are pre-mixed, there should not be any clumping. It is simply to liquefy with a bit of hot water, then pour the frothed milk on top, just like a latte. You don't stir your lattes, and they come out fine, right?

Adrian

I prefer to use guittard's chocolate wafers. It requires a two pitcher approach though. I put the wafers in one pitcher with milk then steam to melt and stir in the chocolate. You might have to stir more to dissolve the chocolate stuck on the bottom. In a second pitcher steam milk as usual. Fill a glass with the chocolate milk mixture and fill with the regular milk. This way is a little more involved but it gives the opportunity to have some latte art in the cup.

This is how I do it;

First, mix three parts cocoa powder (the real, premium stuff) with one part sugar (the white, finely granulated stuff), and add three heaped teaspoons of this to every 1/3 liter glass you intend to make.

Then crack out the steaming pitcher and steam enough milk for you drinks. Then pour the glasses a bit shy of full (I like about an inch in a latte glass), and mix it with a spoon. By pouring the hot milk onto the powder you eliminate the clumping problem. Then pour a nice rosetta or heart on top. Alt. add whipped cream and chocolate sauce, think starbucks and you'll get it.

If you want to do it the really fancy way, you need to crack out the chocolate. I like to mix up a batch of 1/3 milk chocolate, 1/3 dark, and 1/3 white. You need to get these finely ground somehow, I use a cheese grater. Then you, again, steam the milk, and when you have that whirlpool going, you sprinkle in about 3 heaped tablespoons per ½ liter milk. That way you get a nice mixture. Just make sure that you don't dump the chocolate in there before the milk starts to get a bit warm. This stuff is really creamy and thick, very very addictive. And the really good part is that you don't need any whipped cream to this, and that the grated chocolate keeps forever, so you can grate 1 kg of each chocolate in one session and mix it into mason jars and have all you hot chocolate needs supplied for the next 10 years or so...

If you want to do it the really fancy way, you need to crack out the chocolate. I like to mix up a batch of 1/3 milk chocolate, 1/3 dark, and 1/3 white. You need to get these finely ground somehow, I use a cheese grater.

Stuggi, are you talking about grating chocolate bars and mixing them into the steaming milk? I never thought of that. Is it sticky and messy?

Nope, not if you grate it really fine, like slivers that are a couple of centimeters long and about a mm in diameter. Your steam pipe is going to need a bit more cleaning than with milk, alternatively you could steam the milk and then add the chocolate to the hot milk while stirring.

LeoZ wrote:my recipe: (quick recipe, approx per cup)
-2tbl chocolate powder
-2tbl dark brown sugar
-dash of salt
-dash of vanilla extract
-1-2oz of boiling water
-5-6oz steamed milk
-chocolate powder or flakes

That's more or less how I do it. I don't want to use sugar so I use http://www.equalexchange.coop/cocoa baking cocoa (has no sugar added) by equal exchange and sweeten it with Stevia (a natural sweetener from Latin America - from the Stevia plant see here http://www.stevia.net/). Use only couple of drops per cup, it's quite sweet.

I put everything in the steaming pitcher with the milk, and away I steam.

good point, I should have specified, I dont use powdered sugar chocolate or the like, I use 'unsweet' baking powdered cocoa.

The Christmas party came and went, so I thought I should report back. Unfortunately, I completely ran out of time and could not make the hot chocolate from scratch. Instead, I ended up buying pre-prepared Godiva hot chocolate, which was still very good. http://www.godiva.com/catalog/product.aspx?id=1859&SE_Section=Shop&SE_Category=28 The link is for Godiva's site, but I bought it from my neighborhood Barnes and Noble and saved 10% with my membership.

Here's how I made it with the Brugnetti:
I put about 6-8 ounces of milk in a steaming pitcher, stretched it, and brought it up to about 100 F. Then, I stirred in three tablespoons of the Godiva powder and steamed until the thermometer hit about 140 F (it still rose after that to about 150). I added some whipped cream to the top.

The guests raved and said it tasted like liquid versions of Godiva chocalate. Some requested espresso shots with the hot chocolate so I abliged. They said it was great with espresso, but I never tried. Would that basically be a "cafe mocha"?

Thank you all for the recipies, and I still plan to try those - especially adding cayenne pepper!

If you are lucky enough to have an espresso machine with commercial or near-commercial steaming power, you can skip the pre-mixing in hot milk step they include in normal recipes. Just put all your dry ingredients (and the milk) in a frothing pitcher and microfoam as if you were making a latte.

And just for the record, if you don't insult your palate with instant flavored "cappuccino" mixes, you should leave the Hershey's syrup to the kids. Serious espresso drinkers deserve real cocoa! It takes less than a minute with a frothing wand.

My kids got some mugs with cocoa and marshmallows from some friends. It is real baking cocoa not the sugared premade stuff. They were not use to it but liked it just as good as or more than the pre-made stuff. They just don't want to take the time to mix the sugar and cocoa but it does make a much better cup. Like Marshall, I put everything into a large steam pitcher, add the milk and then froth it all together on the espresso machine. Saves time and the creamy chocolate microfoam is quite good.