European Style Hot Chocolate

Fancy a hot chocolate but don’t want that watery chalky-tasting drink with tons of powder settled at the bottom? This european-style hot chocolate is thick, indulgent and full of real chocolate.

Happy September folks!

Speaking of September, can you believe we’re here already? Soon it’ll be Christmas! 😆

I can’t believe autumn is just around the corner. And with the exception of today being sunny and warm, the temps have definitely dropped. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I was kinda holding out for a late burst of summer weather.

And this year we’ve had a great summer here in England. I know those of you will laugh when I say it’s been too hot to handle with the highest temperature of the year peaking at 33°C (92°F)!

With typically no air conditioning in homes here, it was hot, hot, hot! I had a friend from Australia laughing at my complaints of being ‘too hot’ in comparison to the temperatures over there.

The one thing I hate about summer though, other than melting away, is how uncomfortable it is trying to sleep.

The beginning of autumn is perfect for me. Still relatively warm, but comfortable enough to sleep. #winwin

And with the nights ever drawing in, I love that snuggly feeling you get in autumn too. You just want to sit by the fire wrapped in a blanket enjoying a steaming hot cup of hot chocolate.

And who doesn’t love a giant mug of hot chocolate? I know I do. It’s the perfect bedtime relaxing treat for me.

Like the older woman I’m not, I used to drink hot chocolate in a large Starbucks mug every. single. night. That was until I started gaining weight, then it soon stopped! 😆

But I really do miss my daily hot chocolate. *sulk*

That instant hot chocolate you buy from the supermarkets isn’t all that great. I’ve even tried the expensive, luxury instant hot chocolates too!

No matter how hot your milk is, and how well you blend it into a paste with the milk, it’s still chalky! And unless you leave a spoon in and stir occasionally whilst you’re drinking it (poking yourself in the eye, who wants to do that?), you end up with the powder civilisation settlements at the bottom.

Not good at all. Pfft! It’s the same with the expensive varieties too.

I’ve even tried those blocks of real chocolate you spoon into hot milk with no avail, they’re still watery and leave chunks of chocolate at the bottom.

That’s when I discovered my friend, Allie’s (Baking a Moment), real hot chocolate recipe using real chocolate. I knew immediately I wanted to try it.

The recipe itself results in the most rich, thick, decadent hot chocolate. Just as it should be! 🙂

Here in England (and the rest of Europe), hot chocolate should be thick, not a watery mess, and this hot chocolate definitely delivers.

Imagine enjoying a Belgian hot chocolate because this hot chocolate was made using Belgian dark and milk chocolate. And boy, it’s so good. It would be almost as good using our famous Cadbury chocolate too. 😉

I also discovered that you can use a KitchenAid Food Grinder to grate your chocolate up. And since KitchenAid are such rockstars, they sent me one of their food grinders to try out.

There’s no better way to try out the KitchenAid Food Grinder than to make the most luxurious proper hot chocolate ever!

Shall we get started? 🙂

You’ll need a KitchenAid Food Grinder. (If you don’t have the food grinder attachment, see the notes on the recipe, below).

Use the coarse grinder plate and attach to your KitchenAid stand mixer by unscrewing the attachment screw on the front of your machine, pushing the food grinder in, and screwing the screw to secure.

Break the chocolate into chunks and run this through the KitchenAid Food grinder using the food pusher to help it through, if needed.

Once the chocolate has been ground, use a blunt knife to scrape any excess chocolate from the Food Grinder plate. We don’t want to waste any of that divine Belgian chocolate now do we? 🙂

Add the sugar, cornflour, and espresso powder to the ground chocolate and toss to coat.

Pour the milk and ground chocolate to a medium saucepan and heat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until just nearly simmering. Then whisk in the vanilla and serve immediately. And did I mention it’s great to dip strawberries into it too? 🙂

The optional espresso really amps up that amazing chocolate flavour, as does the vanilla too. The aroma will attract chocolate lovers within the vicinity too, be warned! 😆

Disclosure: I kindly received the KitchenAid Food Grinder for this review from KitchenAid (UK). I was not compensated for this post.

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