During the past few weeks, I’ve had cafe mochas, hot chocolate of the sweet and watery kind from 711, Cadbury chocolate bars purchased at the TTC snack stands while waiting for my bus, chewy turtles my family received as a holiday gift, and fancy pants artisan chocolate purchased at Roncesvalles’ Chocolateria. So, imagine my delight when I trudged to work on Saturday morning to find the most sinful gift sitting on my desk waiting for me: a bar of stone ground roasted cacao beans turned chocolate from ChocoSol Traders. I had thoughts of eating it all, but one attempted bite made me realize that perhaps it’d be better off used in baking. When given the gift of pure cacao, what else is there to do than turn to the Mayans and make a deliciously aromatic and bitter chocolate drink!

Leo has his campari, I’ll have my cocoa.

I went to David Lebovitz for a chocolate recipe and ended up combining two for my own. After making the hot chocolate, David recommends waiting a few hours before serving so as to to let the flavours build up, but I didn’t and it still tasted pretty good. Mine was quite thick and grainy — if you don’t like that texture, he also recommends putting the mixture in a blender until smooth. I simply added more milk as I drank (I definitely need more calcium, doctor recommended).

Parisian/Stone Ground Hot Chocolate
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s Parisian Hot Chocolate and Mexican Hot Chocolate recipes
Serves 4-5 demitasse cups (about half the size of a coffee cup)

2 1/4 cups milk
2 1/2 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder and a pinch of salt
100 g of stone ground chocolate or bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao solids) finely chopped
1 or 2 tablespoon of brown sugar

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk with the cocoa powder and salt, whisking constantly until it comes to a full boil.

Remove from heat and add the chocolate, whisking until it’s completely melted. For a thick hot chocolate, continue to cook at a very low boil for about 3 minutes, whisking frequently. It will reduce quite fast, so keep an eye on it until it reaches the consistency you want.

If you find the hot chocolate to be too bitter, add in some brown sugar to sweeten it up.

Also…milk has a tendency to boil over if you’re not constantly paying attention. Oops.