Old-Fashioned Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate as it was made before instant powders existed: with water instead of milk, from dark chocolate at 67 % cocoa plus extra cocoa powder.
The water is not a economy measure, it is a decision. Milk coats the cocoa and mutes it; water lets it through unchecked. The result is thick, intense and more bitter than anything out of a sachet — and a great deal closer to what hot chocolate originally was. The drink for a cold winter afternoon.
Ingredients
- 125 g dark chocolate (67 % cocoa), chopped
- 500 ml water
- 50 g powdered sugar (icing sugar)
- 25 g cocoa powder
Method
- 1
Bring the water to the boil with the icing sugar.
- 2
Stir in the cocoa powder and whisk smooth with a balloon whisk. As soon as it comes back to the boil, take it off the heat.
- 3
Put the chopped chocolate into the cups and pour the hot liquid over it, stirring until the chocolate has melted completely. Drink it straight away — as it cools it thickens enormously.