EUROPEAN DRINKING CHOCOLATE
Reprinted from “Making Chocolate”. Copyright © 2017 by Dandelion Chocolate, Inc. Photographs by Eric Wolfinger. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
YIELD: five 4-ounce servings
RECOMMENDED CHOCOLATE PROFILE: chocolatey, nutty, rich fudge brownie
This recipe is a wonderful vehicle for tasting chocolates from different origins side by side. Sometimes the warm milk and brown sugar seem to draw out flavors you don’t taste as strongly in the chocolate alone, like the grassy notes in an earthy bar, or the softer citrusy finish of a berrylike chocolate. Note that stronger flavors can be amplified in a warm drink as well, which is why we usually steer clear of chocolates that are especially tart and recommend something rounder and more classically chocolatey. But, you do you.
This hot chocolate is our most popular drink, and it tastes a lot like a pure melted chocolate bar. This recipe was developed by our first pastry chef, Phil Ogiela, who’s also responsible for the House Hot Chocolate (page 254) and the Mission Hot Chocolate (page 258). It’s a rich sipping chocolate, a cross between the strong, water-based hot chocolate in Paris and the almost thick-as-pudding Italian kind. An Italian customer once told us it was better than anything he could find at home, and we’ll just go ahead and believe him.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups / 454 grams / 16 ounces whole milk
1 tablespoon packed / 10 grams light brown sugar
1½ cups / 227 grams / 8 ounces chopped 70% chocolate
Marshmallow (page 270), for serving (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Combine 1 cup (227 grams / 8 ounces) of milk and the brown sugar in a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Heat the milk mixture until steaming, whisking occasionally.
Whisk the chocolate into the hot milk, keeping the bowl over the double boiler to continue heating it. Whisk for an additional 3 minutes, until shiny and emulsified. It may seem quite thick.
Whisk in the rest of the milk, adding it in a slow stream, and heat for another 4 to 5 minutes, whisk¬ing occasionally, until the mixture is steaming.
Remove the bowl from the pot of water and pour the hot chocolate into mugs. Serve immediately. We recommend it with a few marshmallows, if desired.
In Making Chocolate: From Bean to Bar to S’more by Todd Masonis, Greg D’Alesandre, Lisa Vega & Molly Gore, is the first ever complete guide to making chocolate from scratch. Written by the folks behind the nationally lauded chocolate factory Dandelion Chocolate, the book reveals secrets to making delicious chocolate in your own kitchen with only two ingredients: cocoa beans and cane sugar. And so much more.
From the simplest techniques—such as roasting beans on a sheet pan to winnowing away the shells with a hair dryer—to more complex subjects like the science and mechanics of making chocolate and the nuts, bolts, and ethics of sourcing beans directly, this book follows the cocoa bean from the farm to the factory to the pastry kitchen, and dives deep everywhere in between. Making Chocolate is a resource for hobbyists and more ambitious makers alike, detailing the ways that land, climate, and genetics affect the flavor of cocoa beans as well as providing delicious ways to use chocolate, such as how to make the world’s very best chocolate chip cookie. Complete with stunning photographs from Eric Wolfinger, recently dubbed the “Annie Leibovitz of food photography” by the New York Times, Making Chocolate unravels chocolate’s mysteries.
Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate factory founded in 2010 by Todd Masonis (CEO) and Cameron Ring. Greg D’Alesandre joined in 2012 as the VP of R&D and travels the world in search of great cacao beans as Dandelion’s chocolate sourcerer. Lisa Vega is Dandelion’s executive pastry chef and was named a StarChefs Rising Star in 2016. Molly Gore is a writer and Dandelion’s communications manager. Since its founding, Dandelion Chocolate has grown to operate two factories in San Francisco and another in Tokyo.
