National Chocolate Week {Real Hot Chocolate}

Hurrah! Chocofest continues!  I am posting today about my attempt(s) to make real hot chocolate over the weekend and why I thought it was better than just popping into the supermarket, buying it and saving myself the time and bother.  If you try it too, I really hope you can taste the difference and agree that it is worth it and easy enough to whip up that you'd be tempted to try it again sometime.

What You Need:

Chocolate. I used Willie's Cacao [£5.29 for 180g]

Milk

Sugar to taste

Toppings:

Whipped/Canned Cream

Marshmallows

Chocolate Shavings

Sprinkles

Did you ever catch Willie's Chocolate Factory on Channel 4?  I loved it - and I loved him, amazing - and he literally uses his cacao on everything he eats.  Sweet or savoury.  I usually make this recipe with something like Dairy Milk/Galaxy chocolate and following a version of this Hairy Bikers recipe, however; I thought my first attempt at using some real cacao would be perfect for Hot Chocolate.

Rather simply, you need a mugs worth [or however many mugs you are making] milk poured into your saucepan and bring it to a low heat, just below simmering.

For one mug, I used about 45g of the cacao, which is about 1/2 of this block [the pack contains 2]

 I love the branding - love it!

I added the cacao to the milk and gently stirred...

 ...the cacao melts very quickly and turns the mixture a silky, smooth texture

Once melted completely into the milk, check the taste.  Initially, I found the chocolate a little bitter, but found just a spoonful of sugar and a 1/4 pint of milk sweetened it enough for me.

I then added froth to the mixture by whisking with a fork [I couldn't find the whisk. Tut]

 If you want the hot chocolate a little warmer, raise the heat whilst still stirring, then pour into your mug.

 ...and no hot chocolate is complete without a topping of cream and marshmallows!

You can easily make this hot chocolate using your favourite chocolate bar [though I am sure you will then not need the sugar], but this really tastes how hot chocolate should and not at all sugary sweet like I am more used to.  As I only have this drink once in a while, I think I might be making the effort to make myself a cup of real hot chocolate - let me know if you have any recipes or tips to share.

[Edit]: Looking at Willie's Twitter, he has made his own hot chocolate at a motorway service station using 40g of Madagascan Black, a jar of hot water and shaking - who knew?!  Makes the above all seem completely unnecessary and time consuming!  I will try his method and report back next week.

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