Unusual and highly addictive combination of chocolate and ginger that you'll fall in love with. This is definitely the biggest surprise of this year for me! Fragrant ginger adds a really nice kick to the chocolate. Along with warm spices, you will get a delicious creamy drink that can soothe you or wake you up!
The base is made from cocoa, dark chocolate, cane sugar and corn starch in the same ratio. This ensures a creamy consistency and a full flavor of real chocolate. Even if you can make hot chocolate only from chocolate and milk, I love to use this mixture! It tastes delicious, it's cheaper and it can be premixed and added into a jar where it can patiently wait when we come back from a winter walk.
Why is starch added to the chocolate?
Corn starch in this recipe acts as a thickener. This beverage contains just a little bit of true dark chocolate that would normally thicken milk mixture. That's why I add cocoa and cornstarch , because it makes that silky consistency and full flavor of chocolate.
What if a milk skin forms on my hot chocolate?
Skin on the top of the beverage forms if the milk has boiled . Since we have to cook chocolate for at least a minute because we're using corn starch, then most likely the skin will form. But nobody likes the skin, right?! However, they are not harmful and the skin actually contains a lot of healthy milk proteins and sugar. You know it's just the consistency that just doesn't feel right.
Here are 3 tips on how to deal with skins!
- Boil only 2/3 of the milk in a pot and add the remaining third after cooking. Stir well! The hot chocolate cools down and you can drink it right away. (see recipe))
- If the skin has already formed, you can pour it through a sieve and throw the skin away, but you will lose the healthy proteins and sugar from milk.
- Mix your beverage with an immersion blender, then you don't have to throw away anything.
Most often I use the first tip, so I already incorporated it straight into the recipe.
How to sweeten chocolate?
In this recipe I use brown sugar, but it would be delicious also with coconut sugar that tastes almost like a caramel and adds another flavor to the chocolate. Try also some agave syrup, maple syrup or coconut syrup.
For a healthier version add date syrup or even a few spoons of date paste or whole pitted dates! Blend first dates in a milk and after that add the rest of ingredients. Also it's better to sieve the milk with dates into another pot to remove larger parts of dates that didn't blend.
How to add more flavor into hot chocolate?
You can add a lot of different spices! Try cinnamon, cardamom, clove, star anise and ginger as I do in this recipe, or add less traditional crushed coriander seeds, anise, fennel, turmeric or a few grinds of nutmeg.
Don't be afraid to add a little kick to it with a shot of good brandy, whiskey, orange liqueur or dark rum at the end of cooking. Or combine it with fruits and herbs! Grated lemon peel, rose petals, water from orange blossoms or try the mint with the orange versions- look at recipes in TIPS at the end of the article!
And of course you can make this hot chocolate from a different alternatives of milk! Try it with oat milk, coconut milk or soy milk for the best creamy results. Just watch the amount of added sugars in a specific drink and eventually add less sugar to the chocolate mixture.
How to make hot chocolate with ginger and spices?
Into the pot add 2/3 of the milk (500 ml), add 4 teaspoons of cocoa, cane brown sugar, corn starch, chopped dark chocolate (which is about 3-4 squares) and a pinch of salt. Lightly crush the whole spices in a mortar or carefully chop with a sharp knife on a cutting board to make them more fragrant. Then add crushed spices, ground spices and finely chopped ginger to the pot with milk.
Slowly heat the mixture and stir it constantly with a whisk so that the milk does not burn. When it starts to boil, reduce the heat to minimum and let it simmer for two minutes, stirring constantly. Then switch off and add the remaining milk (approx. 300 ml). This will cool the hot chocolate down and you can drink it immediately.
How to store hot chocolate?
Hot chocolate is best when freshly prepared, but you can let it cool down at room temperature and then put it in an airtight container. It will last up to 5 days in the refrigerator. To warm it up, reheat it slowly in a pot on the stove. Some people like it even when it's cold.
TIPS:
- It's really important to mix the ingredients in cold milk, or you will end up with lumps in your hot chocolate because of using corn starch.
- Try another variations:
Hot chocolate with mint and vanilla
Instead of spices and ginger add 8 tbsp of chopped fresh mint or 2 tsp of dried mint into the cold milk. At the end of cooking add 1 tsp of vanilla extract and stir well.
Hot chocolate with orange zest and cinnamon
From the spices add only 0,5 tsp of ground cinnamon and grate in an orange zest from 1 small orange. If you want, add even a little bit of a ground chili.
Recipe
Recipe - 2-4 servings
Hot chocolate with ginger and spices
Ingredients:
- 0,8 l of milk
- 4 tsp of cacao powder
- 4 tsp of brown sugar (cane sugar)
- 4 tsp of dark chocolate or 3-4 squares (finely chopped)
- 4 tsp of corn starch
- pinch of salt
- a piece of ginger, finely chopped
- 0,5 tsp of cinnamon or 1 whole cinnamon stick
- 6 cardamom pods
- 6 cloves
- 1/4 tsp of ground ginger
- half of a star anise
Instructions:
Into the pot add 2/3 of the milk (500 ml), add 4 teaspoons of cocoa, cane brown sugar, corn starch, chopped dark chocolate (which is about 3-4 squares) with a pinch of salt.
Lightly crush the whole spices in a mortar or carefully chop with a sharp knife on a cutting board to make them more fragrant.
Then add crushed spices, ground spices and finely chopped ginger to the pot with milk.
Slowly heat the mixture and stir it constantly with a whisk so that the milk does not burn. When it starts to boil, reduce the heat to minimum and let it simmer for two minutes, stirring constantly.
Then switch off and add remaining milk (approx. 300 ml). This will cool the hot chocolate down and you can drink it immediately.
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