Need I say more?

Liquid gold. Nirvana in a cup. A heavenly gift.

Drinking chocolate is all the rage. It’s front page news. We are not reading about hot chocolate. We are guided by lists of what, where, how, and when we can get a cup of drinking chocolate. Does the movie Chocolat come to mind? Vianne (Juliette Binoche) creates a sensational cup of magic for her customers that seems to heal. Her fellow Parisians have been ordering up drinking chocolate at Angelina’s, Cafe de Flore and Les Deux Magots for over a century. And now Portland has finally caught on to serving up this special brew.

Although recipes and techniques vary, the idea is to melt bittersweet chocolate with just enough milk and cream in order to hold your tongue captive for as long as possible, slowly releasing it down your throat and saturating it with pleasure. Why else bother? The calories alone demand serious consideration. Every gram must deliver.

For all of those chocolate lovers who have wonderful artisanal brands like Scharffen Berger, Valrhona and Dagoba in their pantry, you’re set to go. Some are happy with Ghirardelli, Baker’s and Nestle. Whatever your preference, buy the best that you can. It makes all the difference. Everyone in my family is a chocoholic. Therefore, I always have a good chunk of my favorite powerhouse brand around, Callebaut bittersweet, to please any craving.

So, when the need arises (and I did say ‘need,’ not ‘mood’) consider fixing the most incredible way to deliver that deep, dark, intense chocolate experience. And as we drag ourselves deeper into the chilly and blustery days of winter, you’ll now have a reason to head to your warm kitchen instead of putting on all those layers and heading outside in search of that magic.

Drinking Chocolate

makes about 3 cups

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over medium to low heat. I do this with the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl set over a saucepan. Remove the bowl from the pan, stir the chocolate until smooth, and then whisk in the water to blend.

In another bowl, stir the cocoa powder to break up any lumps, then mix in a few tablespoons of the milk to make a smooth paste. Add the rest of the liquids and the salt, mixing thoroughly.

Now, whisk the milk and cocoa mixture into the bowl of melted chocolate and stir until smooth, then return the mixture to the warm pan used for the double boiler (having poured out the remaining hot water first!) Stir over medium low heat until hot.

Note: I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks recommended to me by one of my favorite cooks—Karen Lynn. In her book, Sunday Supers at Lucques, Suzanne Goin uses equal parts milk and cream in her recipe. I didn’t dare try that concoction, I wasn’t brave enough, and yet still found my version outrageously good.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Drinking Chocolate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.