Hot Chocolate On a Stick

Hot Chocolate On A Stick
Recipe from www.thenovicechefblog.com

You will need:

8 oz. chocolate with 70% cocoa or higher

1/4 cup cocoa, sifted
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
pinch of salt

Equipment:
Ziplock bags or piping bags
A double boiler or pan with a glass bowl that can sit over the simmering water
Some kind of chocolate mold, ice trays work great
Stir sticks or a bag of wooden craft sticks

If your chocolate is in a block, chop it into even-sized meltable pieces. Simmer a couple inches of water in a
pan, then turn down the heat so the water is below a simmer. I like to remove the pan from the heat, but if
you keep it on, keep that water below a simmer. Place glass or stainless steel bowl over the top to make
a double boiler. If the bowl touches the water it’s alright, as long as your water isn’t too hot. Dump
chocolate into the clean, dry bowl and stir as the chocolate melts. (If you are patient and let those chunks
melt slowly, keeping them from getting over 90 degrees F or 88 degrees F for milk and white chocolate,
the chocolate will stay “in temper” and will still be nice and pretty when it cools.)

Once the chocolate is 2/3 melted, with just some pieces of the chocolate unmelted, remove the bowl from
the pan, dry the bottom with a towel and continue stirring until chocolate is fully melted. This is just one
more step to keep the chocolate from getting too hot.

Add cocoa, sugar, and salt and continue to stir until combined. The chocolate will be thicker, almost
as thick as frosting, but still glossy and smooth and very fun to stir. If it looks grainy or more like fudge
and is difficult to stir, it’s possible you’ve accidentally gotten a drop of water in the mixture.
Scoop chocolate into a ziplock bag and clip off the corner.

Pipe the chocolate into your chocolate mold, tapping the mold on the counter to make sure all the
chocolate settles into the mold. Add a stir stick and you’re done. The stir stick should stay upright
without any trouble.
Let the chocolate cool either at room temperature or in the fridge if you’re in a hurry.

If you don’t like the look of the chocolate once it is removed from the mold, you can dip the cubes
into a new batch of plain melted chocolate for a shinier finish (again, try to keep chocolate from heating
over 90 degrees, or use candy melts, which will stay shiny and pretty even if you go above 90 degrees).
This also lets you add sprinkles or crushed candy or just lets you dip in fun patterns. I like dipping at an
angle into a different color of chocolate.

In order to enjoy these, heat up any combo of milk, water, half and half, or cream. I like 6 cups milk

with 2 cups heavy cream. One ounce of chocolate on a stick should be melted into one

cup milk or cream. So a standard ice cube-tray block, which is 3/4 an ounce, should be melted into

a mug with 3/4 cup milk or cream in it.