Stovetop Hot Chocolate

My first experience with real stove top hot chocolate was actually at my ex-boyfriends house. His mom was an early riser and seemingly loved to cook away her mornings. One day while I was there, she baked some beautiful biscuits and something in a pot.

I didn’t know what was in the pot so I asked. When she replied hot chocolate I sincerely got confused. Hot chocolate comes in a packet, you add hot water, and voila. What do you mean it is in the pot?

So she enlightened me to the wonders of homemade hot chocolate and gave me a great lesson in learning how to balance the taste. The balance among sweet, bitter and salty needing to be met of course.

She made me appreciate the slow and methodical nature of cooking and ever since it has made me hope to one day be the kind of person to wake up early and cook in such a way. I mean, watching her cook made me relaxed and now that I am cooking and baking more I understand how the process is soothing. Must be an ever better way to start the day.

So after some experimentation and taking into account the need to balance sweet, bitter and salty, I came up with my own recipe for stove top hot chocolate.

1-1 ½ tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
2-2 ½ tbsp sugar
2 ½ cups milk
Dash of vanilla extract
Dash of salt

1. Mix together the cocoa and sugar in a pot until combined. Use a sifter to break up large pieces if available.
2. Add ½ cup milk to the cocoa and sugar and turn heat to low-medium. Stir continuously until you get a rich and creamy chocolate mixture.
3. Add the rest of the milk, vanilla, and salt. Keep stirring.
4. Taste test often to make sure you have the right balance but within the ranges I have listed it should taste really good!
5. Once the mix is warmed, use a ladle to serve in mugs. Serve immediately.

A couple notes for you:

-The light colour is normal. You really don’t need a lot of cocoa, it packs a punch!

-Add ½ tsp of crushed candy canes (leftovers from peppermint bark perhaps) to the pot after step 3 for a mint hot chocolate. Just make sure they melt completely, this will take about a minute.

-Make sure to use a ladle when getting ready to serve. I tried to pour straight from the pot and that did NOT turn out well.

-Make sure to prepare a little something on the side too. Here are two cookie ideas: Spice or Chocolate Chip.