The Best Hot Chocolate

The best hot chocolate is incredibly rich, creamy and silky. It is decadence in a mug. Deep dark chocolate is balanced with a little salt to temper the sweetness and to enhance the chocolate flavor.

This is THE BEST hot chocolate. This recipe uses both melted chocolate and cocoa powder for rich chocolate flavor. The secret is an egg yolk emulsified into the hot chocolate to make it rich and thick.

If you aren’t in for that but you still want fabulous hot chocolate jump on over to my hot cocoa mix recipe, which is also rich and decadent but very easy, or pull out the booze and make spiked hot chocolate with vodka. Any and all should be served with giant squishy marshmallows! You can make the homemade marshmallows pictured here in less time than it takes to go to the store.

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I personally serve it with homemade marshmallows. Because marshmallows are not optional.
Not that I imagined you thought they were…

I take my chocolate very seriously, which is how I know that this hot chocolate is THE BEST.

Let me give you a quick run-down on my love affair with chocolate…

1. I have been head-over-heels obsessed with chocolate since Age 1. Under that fluffy white icing is a chocolate cake. You can see the love in my eyes. [Please also note that I did not face-plant into the cake like a typical 1-year-old. #classyfromday1 ]
2. My second birthday and every birthday thereafter I had a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. It was 4 tiers and the top tier was mine. All mine. [Thanks, Mom – you’re the bomb!]
3. For 20-ish years, if there was a molten chocolate cake or flourless chocolate cake on the menu, you could bet your life that Lindsey (that’s me) was going to order that. The first time I ordered something different it sent shock waves through the Farr Family dinner table (this was the year I discovered bread pudding).
4. I always ordered chocolate ice cream…unless I ordered a scoop of chocolate AND something else, because ordering non-chocolate ice cream leads to regrets. And you know how I feel about those around here…
5. There is always chocolate in my purse. If you ask, I’ll probably deny it because I don’t want to share. (I’m just being honest.)
6. I also always have a chocolate stash at home. If I don’t have chocolate chips on hand, it’s because I just ate them all.
7. In my High School yearbook all Seniors were asked to complete the sentence “Happiness is…” My answer was one word: chocolate.
8. I also studied chocolate in culinary school, but that is neither here nor there. I think #7 pretty much sums it all up anyways.

Basically, I want my chocolate desserts to be rich and taste like {gasp} CHOCOLATE!

This hot chocolate isn’t just chocolate warmed up with some milk. No. This is somehow more chocolaty and rich than liquid chocolate. Oui, c’est possible.

Mind. Blown.
To achieve the perfect dark chocolate flavor you much use unsweetened cocoa powder and melted semi-sweet chocolate. You also must use milk (the real stuff that comes from cows. ‘Member that stuff?), because we all know that milk and chocolate are best friends and magic happens when they are combined.

But the real secret, the one thing that makes this hot chocolate better than all the other ones out there, is…the egg yolk.

That’s right. I meant what I said about rich and creamy.
For all of you smarty-pants…it’s basically a hot chocolate anglaise in a mug. You’re welcome.

If you want to up your hot chocolate game and take this hot chocolate from “the best” to “the best ever”, add homemade marshmallows. Those little pillows of sweetness melt into the rich, creamy hot chocolate and…well, swoon.

You do need an immersion blender, blender, or food processor for this recipe. You basically need something that you can drop the egg yolk into while running that will emulsify and simultaneously cook the egg yolk without allowing it to coagulate.

Because nobody wants scrambled eggs in their hot chocolate. Ok fine, you can make it with a whisk and temper the eggs with the hot chocolate first before adding the rest of the liquid, but if you have a piece of machinery that will do this step for you, use it.

5 from 2 ratings

The BEST Hot Chocolate

by Chef Lindsey

This hot chocolate is incredibly rich, creamy, and silky. It is decadence in a mug in under 10 minutes! Deep dark chocolate is balanced with a little salt to temper the sweetness and to enhance the chocolate flavor. The extra rich flavor and silky smooth texture comes from the egg yolk!

Prep: 2 minutes mins

Cook: 5 minutes mins

Total: 7 minutes mins

Servings: 2 people

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Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 cups Whole milk 16 oz
• ▢ 2 tablespoons sugar
• ▢ 3 tablespoons Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder
• ▢ 5 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate I used Ghirardelli, chopped
• ▢ Large pinch kosher salt
• ▢ 1 egg yolk

Instructions 

• In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate on 50% power in 30 second intervals.
• Meanwhile, heat the milk and sugar in a small pot over medium heat. The sugar will help to prevent it from burning. Once it starts steaming, whisk in the cocoa powder, melted chocolate and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and turn off the heat.
• With the immersion blender running, add the egg yolk to the pot and blend in the egg. You can also transfer it to a blender or food processor.
• Pour into two mugs, top with an impossible number of marshmallows and enjoy.

Notes

Serve hot. You can store it in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval, or on the stovetop, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.

If you do not have an immersion blender, blender or food processor, you may add the egg yolk the old fashioned way. Place egg yolk in a large mixing bowl and break it up with a whisk. You can add a little sugar to the yolk if you would like, which will help you temper it without scrambling. While whisking constantly, pour in half of the hot chocolate into the bowl with the egg yolk in a slow stream. Whisk in the rest of the chocolate mixture. Pass the hot chocolate through a fine sieve or chinois. This will strain out any unpleasant lumps of coagulated egg yolk. Like I said, just use the darn blender.

Nutrition

Calories: 649kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 131mg | Sodium: 106mg | Potassium: 892mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 50g | Vitamin A: 560IU | Calcium: 365mg | Iron: 6mg

Course: Dessert, Drinks

Cuisine: American, Mexican

Calories: 649

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