«««« HEAD:_cooking/2026-06-03-super-thick-hot-chocolate.md Fifteen minutes start to finish makes this the kind of thing you whisk up while something else rests, it’s almost exactly the gap a batch of rough puff wants between folds: twenty minutes in the fridge, more or less the time it takes to chop the chocolate, build the slurry, simmer the milk, and pour. Drink it while the next round of pastry chills. ======== Sunday-night treat: thick drinking chocolate in the Spanish style. Four small cups, fifteen minutes.
86c3c71 (Cooking: Super Thick Hot Chocolate, move to Sunday, drink it straight away):_cooking/2026-06-07-super-thick-hot-chocolate.md
Yield and time
- Makes: 4 small cups (around 200ml each), it’s rich, you don’t want a mug
- Hands-on: 15 minutes
- Total: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 800ml whole milk
- 200g good dark chocolate (70%), finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 4 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- A small pinch of ground cinnamon
- A small pinch of fine salt
To serve
- A few shortbread fingers, biscotti, or sliced toasted brioche for dipping
You’ll need a medium saucepan and a small whisk that fits inside it.
Method
Chop the chocolate (200g) finely with a heavy knife so it’ll melt evenly into the hot milk later. Set it aside in a bowl.
Measure 100ml of the milk (cold, from the 800ml total) into a small bowl. Whisk in the cornflour (2 tbsp) until it’s smooth with no lumps, this slurry is what gives the drink its thickness. Set it next to the stove.
Pour the rest of the milk (700ml) into the saucepan. Add the sugar (4 tbsp), vanilla (1 tsp), cinnamon (small pinch), and salt (small pinch). Heat over medium until the milk is just steaming and small bubbles ring the edge, don’t let it boil.
Whisk the cornflour slurry once more, then pour it into the hot milk in a steady stream while whisking constantly. Keep whisking and let the milk come to a gentle simmer, you’ll feel the resistance change in the whisk as the cornflour cooks out and the milk thickens. Two to three minutes from when the slurry goes in.
Take the pan off the heat. Tip in the chopped chocolate (200g) all at once and whisk steadily until every fleck has melted and the drink is glossy and uniformly dark, one to two minutes. If it’s stubborn at the bottom, put the pan back on the lowest heat for thirty seconds while you keep whisking.
The thickness sets as it cools, so check it now: dip a spoon in and lift it out, the chocolate should coat the back of the spoon in an even glossy layer, and a finger drawn through that layer should leave a clean line. If it’s thinner than you want, return to low heat and whisk another minute. If it’s thicker than you want, whisk in a splash more milk.
Pour into four small cups and serve immediately, with the shortbread on the side for dipping.
Storage
Drink it straight away. It doesn’t keep.