French hot chocolate

The hot chocolate I had in Buenos Aires reminded me how much I love what seems like, essentially, just molten dark chocolate.  It’s best known as being French (le vrai chocolat chaud), but of course you can find it at chocolate shops around the world – including Rapa Nui.

And it’s so easy to make at home!

There are lots of recipes out there, but after some delicious experimentation, I’ve come up with a simple formula: 1/3 cup milk plus 1 ounce chocolate per person, for a petit cup of chocolate (which is all you really need when something is this rich).

I think ~80% chocolate is best for this – a little sweet, a little bitter.  But you could vary according to your taste, closer to 70% if you want something sweet, or up to 85%+ if you like it very dark.  Since you’re basically eating the chocolate straight, do use something that tastes good – sometimes I use a combination of two different chocolates to get more complex flavor (for example, half 72% and half 88%).  You can also sub in part cream, for a richer treat; I usually just use skim milk, which works perfectly well.

You can also play with the ratios depending on how thick you’d like your chocolate – the ratio below makes it thin enough to drink easily; cut the milk (or increase the chocolate!) to make it really thick.

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French hot chocolate

Per serving:
1/3 cup milk
1 oz chocolate

Heat milk in small saucepan.

When warmed, add chocolate (roughly broken) and whisk until combined.