Real Hot Chocolate

For Christmas as part of my goodie pack I received a bar of Hotel Chocolat Organic Hacienda Iara 100% Chocolate. I followed the tasting instructions carefully but just couldn't get a taste for it. I love my dark chocolate but this was a bit too dry and bitter for my taste buds (and Mr VST's too and he loves the 85% stuff!). Anyway as neither of us was enjoying eating it straight up I decided that I would make hot chocolate out of it. I looked up hot chocolate recipes and found this old article in the Guardian by Nigel Slater. I love his food writing. It makes my mouth water!

I used what was left of the 100g bar of chocolate as well as a bag of milk chocolate buttons that I hadn't got around to making Christmas tree decorations with. I heated two mugs full of oat milk with a cinnamon stick in and then melted in the chocolate bar and buttons and added a sprinkle of mild chilli powder and a grating of nutmeg. I also but in about three teaspoons of dark brown sugar to counter the bitterness of the chocolate.

I brought it all up to a gentle boil, whisking it all the way and poured it out into two mugs for drinking. It was incredibly thick, the flavours of the spices didn't really come through, it was a completely different experience from the sweet hot chocolates you buy in cafés. It was very thick, chocolatey and filling. I think next time I'd like to make it with Green and Black's Maya Gold.