020: A Winter Treat
Superior hot chocolate
You know what is surprisingly hard to make—and make well? Hot chocolate. Sure, you can mix up some Swiss Miss (mostly as a vehicle for marshmallow, right?), but to achieve a hot chocolate that isn’t too sweet, doesn’t overwhelm your palate with the taste of dairy, and somehow isn’t too rich, is a challenge. To be honest, I can’t stomach instant brands like Swiss Miss. I recently tried an instant Mexican Hot Chocolate called Ibarra’s and that was way too sweet for me too. I’ve stopped ordering it when I see it on menus, and it’s stopped occurring to me to glance at options in the baking aisle. As a person for whom cow’s milk is not a drink, it pretty much grosses me out.
But I never forgot the chocolat chaud I had at Ladurée on a childhood trip to Paris. I did not know hot chocolate could be thick and rich, with the perfect amount of sugar, while somehow disappearing the taste of dairy entirely.
I was reminded of it the other day when I came into possession of the Saltie cookbook (of the eponymous, shuttered, beloved Brooklyn sandwich shop), which features a recipe for hot chocolate that instantly reminded me of the one I had at Ladurée. [Now you can go to Ladurée in Soho, but frankly, it’s not the same, so let’s pretend this divine brew is as elusive as ever.]
“We don’t pull any punches here; this hot chocolate is taken to the edge with plenty of cocoa, fortified with a healthy amount of cream, thick and commanding. A reward for weathering another cold day. Put it in the fridge and you’ll have a pudding later.”
Saltie’s recipe calls for Valrhona cocoa powder, which I was not able to find. What I did find at the store was Droste, a Dutch brand, which immediately drew my attention for the packaging. Obviously I had to buy that. It was new to me, but I now know (after posting it to social media and getting a bunch of enthusiastic comments) that it’s actually a fairly well-known brand here. Not sure how I missed it until now!
As soon as I got home I got down to business making myself this winter treat—a superior winter treat, thanks to my new favorite cookbook. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to buy more heavy cream, because I absolutely did not have enough. The recipe calls for a whopping 1.5 cups of both milk and cream, to a 1/3 cup sugar, and a 1/2 cup cocoa powder. Yes that is A LOT of dairy, but the quality and amount of the cocoa powder prevents it from registering on the tongue. The other key to avoiding bad hot chocolate is to stir constantly once it’s on the heat, never allowing the bottom of the pot to burn. Turns out it takes a long time to dissolve a 1/2 cup cocoa powder.
I was at it awhile, but the resulting cup was worth it. I realize this version is incredibly decadent, but in my view it’s the only one worth drinking.
Saltie Hot Chocolate
Ingredients:
1.5 c whole milk
1.5 c heavy cream
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c Droste cocoa powder (Saltie calls for Valrhona, but I can’t vouch for that having never tried it—no doubt it is excellent and higher quality)
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a small pot, and place on low heat. Stir constantly until cocoa powder and sugar are dissolved. Ladle into mugs, serving as hot as you can handle. If you like, place one giant marshmallow on top (personally that’s a bit next level for my taste, but on a festive occasion: YES PLS).
Store any leftover hot chocolate in the fridge, in its pot. Enjoy the following day as a pudding, as the Saltie cookbook suggests (delicious), or reheat (again, stirring constantly) and serve hot.
While I have you, a quartet of miscellaneous recommendations:
Ill/Dressed: My friend Erica writes a newsletter about cooking and baking since her Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis, and it is so beautifully written and inspiring. Planning to make her chocolate biscotti asap! I highly recommend checking it out.
Saltie: A Cookbook: I feel strongly that I didn’t gush nearly enough about this book, above, so let’s rectify that. I have a list so long of recipes I want to try. Looking at the package from the cover alone, I was unprepared for the beauty inside. Photographs by Gentl & Hyers on matte stock, gorgeously capture the shop and the people there. In addition to the hot chocolate, I’ve made the Ship’s Biscuit, a sandwich of soft-scrambled eggs and ricotta that I’m pretty obsessed with. I also learned the soft scramble technique from the book and I might never scramble eggs any other way again. You crack the eggs directly into the pan and cook the whites and yolks at different rates so that the yolk stays jammy and under-cooked while the whites are fully cooked. Ideal!! FYI, it appears to not be widely available new, which is a shame, but I’m seeing it on secondhand sites.
Supermarket artichokes as decor: I know it’s not the season but I eat artichokes year-round. After my last trip to the market I made a dumb little centerpiece of them on our kitchen table and now keep putting off cooking them. I just love the way they look. I can’t wait for artichoke season for the flowers.
Andor (Disney+): this show is one of the best things I’ve seen on TV, perhaps ever? Maybe I just feel that way due to its uniqueness, and the fact that I had no clue what was going to happen at any given moment throughout the season and up until the very last second. I’m not a Star Wars person…this doesn’t feel at all like a Star Wars show to me, though it very much is. I could gush endlessly about the cast—especially these two—and holy moly, the sets and costumes. It took me a few episodes to notice them because they so perfectly disappear into the story, which I think is a testament to their perfection at evoking the world being depicted. Please watch immediately if you haven’t already!
Thank you, as ever, for reading.
Note: A rundown of what I’ve made so far this month will appear in a dedicated installment of this newsletter (hopefully this weekend). If you have an opinion as to whether that section appears in this weekly-ish email (for fewer emails), or like the idea of them appearing separately around twice per month, feel free to give me a shout! Still working out the kinks.
Also a non-Star Wars person andor fan!
I’ve been making a lot of hot cocoa for my daughter and have been seeking out low sugar options. Have stuck with Marion Cunningham’s recipe from The Breakfast Food (from the early ‘80s). Yum!