This is way too complicated. I put 45 gm of 62-ish percent chocolate into 8 oz milk, and then steam the milk with a semi-professional steamer. I froth the milk first (up to about 100F) until the volume doubles, then dunk the steam pipe until it hits the proper temp of 160F, and the chocolate is melted.

Many single chocolates do not come out good, even if I like to eat it, so I generally arrive at a mix of two and have several that I alternate around. Half Valrhona Manjari and half Scharffenberger 62% is awesome.

I prefer not to add sugar, and anything less than 58% is too sweet for me, but taste varies, I'm sure.

Instead of gradually adding the heated milk to the melted chocolate, why not just heat the milk to the same temp as the melted choc and add all at once? Won't it mix in well at that temp without damaging the choc? Then you can heat it up to optimum drinking temp, and save a lot of time.

The problem is that melted chocolate seizes when it comes into contact with water. Stirring will work this out, but when there is too much liquid, you cannot work out all the chunks and bits and you result in graininess again.

It's like adding water to flour, it's nearly impossible to get the flour to be smoothly and even suspended if the water is added all at once so you have to add it gradually to prevent lumps and pockets of dry flour.

Could I make this using unsweetened chocolate? How and when would I add sweetener?

Yes, you can. Add sweetener once 3/4 of the milk has been blended into the chocolate.

Have you ever made white hot chocolate with this method? Any thoughts or tips on what, if anything, would be different or in need of special attention?

Based on my experience baking with white chocolate, I think there will be two noticeable differences:

White chocolate is sweeter than semi-sweet chocolate. So unless you've got a wicked sweet tooth, you probably won't need additional sweetener.

White chocolate is harder to melt and easier to burn (assuming you are talking about real white chocolate). I never melt white chocolate solo in the microwave--too much work and too easy to burn. But since you've got milk in this recipe, it will adapt easily. I would heat the milk per Michael's instructions, place the white chocolate in a microwave safe container, and then pour the hot milk over it. Stir for a minute, let it rest a minute, stir it again. Pop it in the microwave for 30-second intervals, stirring/resting each time. I regularly do 12 ounces of w.c. melted in two cups of heavy cream with this method; it gives good results with minimal risk of burning the chocolate.

Could you just throw all the ingredients into a bag and SV it?

Not really - the ingredients wouldn't combine readily. Even if you agitated it (squeezing the bag repeatedly), I don't think the melted chocolate would evenly distribute in the liquid (milk or water). You would end up with little bits that didn't get dissolved even though both are fluids in the bag.

Would you use this same technique using water instead of milk? Or would the process change?

I use the exact same tempering technique with water.

I've found that if you're bored while making this, or find it tedious, you can just use the Fibonacci sequence to mix in the milk. By that, I mean 1 spoonful of milk, then another one, then 2, then 3, 5, 8, and so on. I probably sound crazy, but it also makes pretty good hot chocolate.

What a great idea. It will bring visions of sunflowers in the midst of winter.

Michael - thank you. Your method worked beautifully. No more grainy soup, no more wasted time and money. FINALLY.

And this makes also THE best chocolate pudding on earth if you bring the final mix (1quart recipe) to a boil and whisk in 100grms of cornstarch mixed with 100ml of milk. The amount of starch depends a bit how creamy or stiff you like your pudding.
Let it bubble for a couple of seconds and you are ready.

That looks delicious! I'm going to try this in my Thermomix (makes it easy to keep an even temperature). Only problem is that I don't think I can find semisweet chocolate chips here. What percentage of cocoa in a bar would approximate that well?

I can't stand any chocolate that's not milk. When I made the hot chocolate with milk chocolate my mom had mixed up the salt with sugar :P. So when we (my family)drank it, the hot chocolate was so sweet I was the only one that finished my cup... Luckly I have a huge sweet tooth so I finshed everyone's cups. That night I was up till 6:00 am...

How long does this process take, once you have your mise en place?

This takes about 2 minutes. One minute of it is warming up the chocolate in the microwave. Should be about 30 to 60 sec to get it mixed up after that.

This was wonderful! Thanks so much! I used to make my own hot chocolate mix but this was faster and the hot chocolate was creamier and better!

Cheryl

Have been looking for a recipe where milk could be replaced with water, but for some reason every other forum discussion claimed that milk was a necessary ingredient. Just made this with 100% Ghirardelli unsweetened chocolate bars and water, no sweetener. It's a different kind of drink, but if one likes his tea and coffee black, unsweetened chocolate is very nice. Three squares (43 grams) make 12 ounces of chocolate drink with the consistency of regular cocoa.

you dont necessarily need chocolate bars or chips to make this. I just made this delicious creamy hot chocolate and it was glorious. I used hot chocolate powder( any kind of mix will do) , added some sugar (optional) and heated in the microwave till it melted really well. then i slowly poured in my already warmed milk and stirred. p.s there was delicious froth :) :)

I love hot chocolate! I begin every day with cup of chocolate :) This recipe is the best what I'm drank. So thank you!

Greetz
Karol from

Michael - thank you. Your method worked beautifully. No more grainy soup, no more wasted time and money.

Recipe File: Hot Chocolate

grainy soup?

Years ago, Howard asked if this could be done in a sous vide.

Well -- my buddy did it the other day. He doubled the recipe (for the family) and put all the ingredients into a wide mouth mason jar, which he sealed using a vacuum device and placed in the sous vide ( i think he went to 150 degrees F, though) for a bit, then pulled them out, opened the jars, and used an immersion blender.

Thanks for keeping this up! I just made my first sous vide hot chocolate.

I set the sous vide at 125.

I put 1 cup of whole milk and a heaping tablespoon of Blommer dark chocolate disks into a wide mouth pint sized Mason jar, with the lid on loosely.

I put the Mason jar in the sous vide. After a while, I took it out, tightened the lid and shook vigorously. That was enough to dissolve the chocolate chunks. I then added a level tablespoon of sugar and shook it again. The result was wonderful.

I am torn at the best temperature, though. Chocolate can kill germs. The lowest temperature to pasteurize is 130. The highest temperature for dark chocolate to not lose its molecular form is 120. So, should I rely on the flavonoids to kill germs and heat at 120? Or does adding the milk change the chemistry, so heating to 130 does not kill the chocolate?

I just thought about my recent post and realized that I made a mistake. I did not heat the hot chocolate sous vide ("under vacuum" in French). Instead, I used a shallow sous vide water bath to heat the mixture. Only the bottom 2/3 of the upright Mason jar was submerged, allowing it to heat up without spilling the contents.

I did do one milk/chocolate mix in a near-vacuum sealed bag. It was harder to mix, so not as good.