Making Real Hot Chocolate

If you love hot cocoa but you’d really like to try some hot chocolate this season, it’s the perfect time to make some! It’s surprisingly easy to make if you want to make it at home; of course, you can order it at your favorite restaurant if they serve it as well.

To make a big pot of hot chocolate to share with your friends and family (feel free to adjust if it’s just for the two of you), gather together a cup of sugar, 8 cups of milk, 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Using a good knife, place the chocolate (squares or a bar form work well) on a cutting board or other safe surface and chop it up into fine pieces. The finer the better—it will melt faster that way—but don’t stress over getting the tiniest pieces possible. Scrape them up and put them into a mixing bowl.

Next, pour your milk into a pan and heat it on the stove over medium-low heat. You don’t want it to boil, but do make it hot enough to steam.

Pour your cup of sugar and teaspoon of vanilla into the milk. Stir this up until the sugar dissolves; once it has, turn off the heat. Pour a cup of the mixture (using a ladle works well) onto the chocolate in the mixing bowl, taking care to allow the chocolate to melt slowly. Stir it up with a whisk, turning the chocolate over and making sure all of it is coated with the milk mixture.

Keep slowly adding your milk and mixing until your entire pot of milk is gone and you have a delicious-looking chocolate product left, and immediately serve in the coziest mugs you’ve got!

If you want more of a thick, dessert-like hot chocolate, try this more involved recipe for four:

You’ll need a half cup of milk, a half cup of heavy cream, 2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, 2 ounces of sugar, 5 egg yolks and a tablespoon of white crème de cacao.

Chop your chocolate up like you would for the recipe above, and instead of the milk, allow the cream to heat on the stove. Unlike the milk, bring it to a boil. Then pour it slowly over the chocolate like you would for the recipe above; only keep half of it warm on the stove.

Next, whisk your egg yolks and sugar together. Once blended, add a scoop of the cream left on the stove into the mix, and quickly whisk it all together. Now add this mixture back into the pot with the remaining cream as you continue to whisk it. Now stir this mixture over low heat for about 20 minutes, allowing it to thicken. Stir the entire time. Once you can run your spoon through the mixture and it parts without running through the open part, it’s ready to use.

Add the rest of your ingredients, as well as the melted chocolate, and keep stirring until it’s cooled off and ready to serve—with a spoon!