French Hot Chocolate
Why I Love This Recipe
This recipe is just like the one used at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago, so you can be assured it's good and rich.
Ingredients You'll Need
To make the ganache "syrup":
2 cups whipping cream
10 ounces of your favorite dark chocolate (If you want to "be French," you'd use one like Vahlrona. If that's not available, you can always use Ghirardelli or--a favorite of mine--the Sharffen Berger chocolate. In any case, splurge on the quality of chocolate.)
To make a pot of hot chocolate:
4-1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups ganache "syrup"
Directions
To make the ganache "syrup":
Dice your chocolate into little bits. Heat the cream in a medium-sized saucepan on Medium High just until large bubbles start to form on the outside of the pan. You don't want the cream to boil over, just get really hot and on the edge of boiling.
Turn off the heat. Add your chocolate and stir until it's completely incorporated. This is best done with a whisk. You should have really shiny, dark chocolate syrup.
To make a pot of hot chocolate:
Heat the milk in a large saucepan on Medium. Turn the heat to low and, in a steady stream, add the ganache to the hot milk, stirring constantly. When fully combined and warm, you have your hot chocolate the French way.
Set up your tray with all of your garnishing goodies and maybe even some chocolate whipped cream, and let your guests "doctor" their hot chocolate to their tummy's content.
