Quick Bites: Raise the Bar

The coffee you’re drinking? It’s not as cultured as the beverage we associate with chilly nights and childhood memories. Before it was a staple at football games and fall festivals, hot cocoa—as Americans know it—was a prized elixir, created 2,000 years ago by the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica. Their discovery of the cacao plant (Theobroma cacao, or “food of the gods”) preceded the coffee bean’s by about eight hundred years.

The Aztecs, who came into power after the Mayas, dubbed the cocoa mixture “xocolatl,” after Xochiquetzal, their goddess of fertility. (No wonder those heart-shaped boxes of bonbons are so popular.) By the time the Spaniards took over Mesoamerica in the fifteenth century, cacao seeds were in such demand they were used as currency, and the beverage was introduced to European courts and countries, where it was served hot, and then eventually brought to the States.

There are myriad recipes for “drinking chocolate,” as the Europeans termed it. Unlike hot cocoa, which consists of only the powder of the cacao seed, hot chocolate refers to a solid bar of chocolate (cocoa powder and cocoa butter) that is melted to produce a thicker substance. Europeans often add vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices to their melted chocolate; Mexicans add cinnamon and chili powder (like the Mayas and Aztecs); and Americans dress theirs with plump marshmallows.

*Hot chocolate recipes courtesy of http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beverage/HotChocolate.htm

Decadent Hot Chocolate

Servings: 

4

Recipe from the Inn at Little Washington, Washington D.C.

Ingredients: 

1 tea pot full of Hot Chocolate (see recipe below)
Tea cups
Whipped cream
Curls of white chocolate
Curls of milk chocolate

HOT CHOCOLATE
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups milk

Directions: 

Prepare hot chocolate. Place a dollop of whipped cream in the bottom of each tea cup. Place a curl of white chocolate and a curl of milk chocolate in the cup over or beside the dollop of whipped cream.

Pour prepared hot chocolate over the top of the ingredients. The whipped cream will rise to the top, and the chocolate curls will start melting. NOTE: Timing is important in making this hot chocolate, as you need to hand the person the cup right before you pour the hot chocolate into it.

Hot Chocolate

Place the milk and chopped chocolate (can also add sugar to taste) in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk periodically until the mixture reaches the boiling point and is foamy. Remove from heat and if more foam is desired, use a wire whisk or hand held blender to whip the hot chocolate.

Mayan Hot Chocolate

Servings: 

6

Ingredients: 

2 cups boiling water
1 chile pepper, cut in half, seeds removed (with gloves)
5 cups light cream or whole or nonfat milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 to 2 cinnamon sticks
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate or
3 tablets Mexican Chocolate, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 tablespoons granulated sugar or honey, or to taste
l tablespoon almonds or hazelnuts, ground extra fine
Whipped cream

Directions: 

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add chile pepper to boiling water. Cook until liquid is reduced to 1 cup. Remove chile pepper; strain water and set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cream or milk, vanilla bean and cinnamon stick until bubbles appear around the edge. Reduce heat to low; add chocolate and sugar or honey; whisk occasionally until chocolate is melted and sugar dissolves. Turn off heat; remove vanilla bean and cinnamon stick. Add chile-infused water, a little at a time, tasting to make sure the flavor isn't too strong. If chocolate is too thick, thin with a little more milk.

Serve in small cups and offer ground almonds or hazelnuts and whipped cream.

Hot Chocolate recipe from the Angelina Café in Paris, which opened in 1903

Servings: 

4

Ingredients: 

6 ounces fine-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped 

1/4 cup water, room temperature

3 tablespoons hot water 

3 cups hot milk, divided 

Sugar to taste
Whipped cream, if desired

Directions: 

In a double boiler over low heat, combine chocolate and 1/4 cup water until melted, stirring occasionally until smooth.

Remove top of double-boiler pan. Whisk in 3 tablespoons hot water. Pour chocolate mixture into pitcher or divide among individual 4 mugs. Either stir 3/4 cup hot milk into each mug or serve milk in a separate pitcher. Pass sugar and whipped cream in separate bowls; add to taste.