In her food column, Lois Daish had some warming drinks for the winter months ahead.
Sarah Bicknell/APN
July 1995, and Lois Daish has some warming hot chocolate drinks for the winter months ahead. Here is her column and the recipes for Hot Chocolate Using Homemade Ganache; White Hot Chocolate with Orange; Hot Chocolate Syrup; and Frozen Hot Chocolate. We can thoroughly recommend the Hot Chocolate Syrup, which is far superior to powdered drinking chocolate.
“Hot chocolate is more than a drink, it’s a mood, according to Wellington Maitre d’ Marc Weir. It is an intimate, cosy drink, to be sipped late at night while curled up on a soft sofa, with good music playing and a few candles burning. The drink must be dark, smooth and full-bodied. Its quality must be equal to the finest cappuccino. All this is a long way up the ladder from the old image of hot chocolate as drink for people in baggy jerseys and woolly socks, who can’t cope with the gutsy flavour of real coffee. It has become a cheerful alternative for people who want to cut down their caffeine consumption. It is now common for friends to say, “Let’s meet for coffee”, then all order hot chocolate.
“The drink itself has changed along with the people who drink it. This is due in part to the arrival of the espresso machine in most cafes and more than a few private houses. The frothed milk produced by a machine adds body and softness, making this the very best hot chocolate.
“While many cafes use packaged drinking chocolate powder, an increasing number are now preparing their own special syrup or ganache (a type of soft fudge made of melted chocolate and heated cream beaten together). Marc thinks that a spoonful of ganache stirred into frothed milk makes the best hot chocolate. If you have a cappuccino machine, you can use all milk. If not, Marc suggests adding cream to the mil to produce a smoother body. To add to the luxury of the drink, he serves an extra teaspoonful of ganache beside the drink to be eaten with it, or stirred in. You can prepare a batch of ganache and keep it in the fridge to use over a couple of weeks. As this is the same mixture that is used to make chocolate truffles, you could roll a few of these at the same time.
HOT CHOCOLATE USING HOMEMADE GANACHE
- 400g plain dark chocolate or cooking chocolate
- 300ml cream
- 2 tbsp vanilla essence
Place the chocolate on a clean chopping board and chop into small pieces. Put in a pot with the cream and heat very gently until the cream bubbles at the edges. Remove from the heat and set aside until the chocolate melts in the hot cream. Stir until smooth, then chill. Scoop into an electric mixer bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape into a small bowl and refrigerate. When ready to serve, gently heat a cup of milk per person, or a mixture of milk and cream. Stir in a tablespoon of ganache. Top with softly whipped cream and serve.
VARIATIONS
- 1. Add 2 tbsp honey or golden syrup to the melted chocolate mixture before chilling.
- 2. Chop 3 fresh red chillies and steep in hot cream for 20 minutes. Strain before adding the chopped chocolate and 2 tbsp golden syrup.
Marc also makes an unusual hot chocolate using white chocolate and oranges. It is as puzzling to the palate to taste chocolate in a creamy white drink, as it is to bite into a Milky Bar. Strictly a drink for when you are in the mood for innovation, rather than comforting familiarity.
WHITE HOT CHOCOLATE WITH ORANGE
- 150g white chocolate
- ½ can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup cream
- juice of 3 oranges
- grated zest of 1 orange
Chop the chocolate into small chunks and put in a pot with the sweetened condensed milk and cream. Heat gently until the chocolate melts, then add the juice and zest. Stir until smooth and store in the fridge. To use, stir a tablespoon or two into a glass of hot milk. Grate a little extra zest on top.
Another way to make a rich hot chocolate base to store and use as needed, is to make a cocoa and sugar syrup. Like ganache, this is a versatile commodity to have in the fridge. You can heat it to use as a sauce for ice cream or to serve over poached pears.
HOT CHOCOLATE SYRUP
- 1 cup cocoa
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 tbsp butter
Put all ingredients into a pot and heat gently. Simmer for 5 minutes, then strain and store in the fridge. Use a couple of tablespoonfuls for each cup of heated milk.
Now that hot chocolate is as fashionable as café latte, each café is developing its own serving style. One smart Wellington café spoons its house syrup into the bottom of a tall glass, then carefully pours frothed milk over the top. The customers are provided with parfait spoons to mix the chocolate syrup into the milk. Marshmallows, which used to be an essential part of hot chocolate, are fast becoming unfashionable. These are now replace with sticks of flake chocolate, crisp ginger cookies or tiny meringues.
I regret to tell you that almost no one behind a café counter enjoys making hot chocolate, which is a lot more work than a cappuccino. Sometimes one server develops special skill as a hot-chocolate maker, and gets to do them all. That is how Marc became an expert. He says it is vital to heat the mug or glass first. Because frothed milk from a machine is always below boiling point, it is common for hot chocolate to be merely warm. Marc Pours house syrup into the jug with cold milk and steams it until thick and creamy. The drink is them poured into a hot mug and topped with lightly whipped cream, and a trickle of chocolate syrup. Before drinking, the customer should stir in the whipped cream, so that it won’t chill their lips.
Mochaccino is another popular chocolate drink that takes even more skill to prepare. First, a strong shot of espresso is forced into the cup. This is covered with a spoon of lightly whipped cream, then the cup is filled with frothed hot chocolate.
Oddly, almost as much hot chocolate is drunk in summer as in winter. However, if you don’t fancy hot chocolate once the weather warms up, try Marc’s recipe for frozen hot chocolate. It is made from a prepared soft fudge. When you are ready to serve, a spoonful is whizzed in a blender with ice cubes.
FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE
- 150g plain dark chocolate
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 cup icing sugar
- ¼ cup hot water
Cut the chocolate into small pieces and put in a bowl with the butter. Place over hot water until melted. In another bowl, mix the icing sugar and hot water and add to the chocolate. Leave in a cool place to set into a soft fudge. Freeze. AT serving time, put ½ a cup of chocolate fudge and ½ a cup of ice cubes into a blender for each serving. Whizz to a soft mush and pour into a tall glass.”
Listener July 29 1995