295492 Wed Dec 24 12:25:36 -0800 2003 23 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1624085 So I trudge into work this morning in the rain, desperately craving hot chocolate. However, in the last couple of weeks I've determined that none of the coffee places near my office sells anything worthy of the name. Maybe I can find a package of instant in the office, I think. It won't be great, but it will satisfy my craving and I won't have paid $3 for it. But alas, even instant is not to be found. Of course, the more I look, the stronger the obsession gets, so I cast about for what I *do* have in the office. The solution: half a Hershey's Special Dark bar (I used the other half to make chocolate yogurt a couple of weeks ago) and a bunch of those thimble-sized half-and-half containers for the office coffee. I melted the chocolate in a mug in the microwave and stirred in the half-and-half thimble-by-thimble so the chocolate wouldn't seize. I added about a dozen (six ounces, maybe?), then put it back in the microwave for another minute. Wow! Really good! I thought the half-and-half would make it too rich, but, no, it's just the right amount of richness for a small but intense cup of hot chocolate. The chocolate has a surprisingly good balance between sweet and chocolatey. Necessity is surely the mother of chowvention! I'll have to experiment with different types of chocolate in the future. Wed Dec 24 12:25:36 -0800 2003 0 Ruth Lafler 1 1624089 Truly impressive. I'll have to keep your creation in mind the next time I am out of cocoa. I usually stash a bar of dark chocolate for friends and we always have 1/2 and 1/2. Wed Dec 24 12:59:59 -0800 2003 1624085 0 Tracy L. 1 1624093 Ruth, you are a conjurer, an alchemist, a goddess! Wed Dec 24 13:36:43 -0800 2003 1624085 0 Nut Meg 2 1624107 I think Ruth's foraging skills is just a manifestation of the resourcefulness of a true 'hound on the hunt. Wed Dec 24 16:48:43 -0800 2003 1624093 0 Chino Wayne 3 1624181 Ruth, you certainly have your priorities straight: chocohounding first, work later! The picture in my mind of all your efforts for a cup make me giggle out loud and make my efforts pale in comparison, i.e. listening to comments such as: 1. You brought half and half (yes, I got up 30 minutes early to go somewhere out of my way to bring it in) 2. Don't you like the dry creamer (no, what is that stuff anyway?!?) 3. Do you like the flavored creamers? (yuk!) 4. Did I just see you pour in bottles of water into the coffeemaker instead of the tap water from the bathroom? (geez, the thought of bathroom water makes me cringe) 5. Mixing chocolate and coffee?!? (gee, if only I'd thought of making and selling mochas at outrageous prices I wouldn't have to listen to non-hounds day in and day out especially before the workday begins or worse yet before a meeting starts!)............ So, 'hounds really applaud you for going to such lengths to make a good (real) cup of hot chocolate -- good 'hounding, girl! My hat's off to you. Sat Dec 27 01:32:22 -0800 2003 1624107 0 Terry 3 1624226 Love this thread. *****! on the Angeline's reference, I will never forget my best girlfriend CHOKING on the thick dark chocolate brew I engineered after a return from Paris. I use a personal size french press teacup made by Tazo that I bought marked way down at Starbuck's; wish I'd bought 10 or 12 because I've never seen one since. I stash my favorite loose teas in tins in my desk drawer and don't have to deal with teaballs etc. Anyway, you put loose tea in the bottom, pour in your hot H20, and eventually press down the plunger which has a neatly-constructed sipping hole in it. Fortunately or unfortunately the body of the cup is transparent, leaving me open to outright ridicule of the "what are you drinking, grass and twigs?" variety. I would love to find another chowhound at my office. Luzianne just doesn't do it for me--when they even HAVE tea at all... Sun Dec 28 17:54:48 -0800 2003 1624107 0 butterisbetter 4 1624229 just bought a 12 ounce, french press travel cup made by bodum at peets. it has the peets logo on it (okay by me, since it's NOT starbucks)not sure where to find it unadorned. took it with me for christmas to use as a portable tea pot. love it! Sun Dec 28 18:56:02 -0800 2003 1624226 0 lynn 5 1624230 just checked the bodum website and they have one available (with their own logo) for $10 -- peets' is $13. click on "coffee" then travel mugs. Link: http://www.bodum.com Sun Dec 28 19:02:08 -0800 2003 1624229 0 lynn 6 1624236 thanks! it's funny, it looks identical to mine only with a different logo obviously. how much you want to bet the manufacturer is the same? anyone out there have a bead on the manufacturer? I'd love a plain one if possible... Sun Dec 28 21:08:25 -0800 2003 1624230 0 butterisbetter 7 1624238 i think bodum's is the manufacturer. Sun Dec 28 23:01:17 -0800 2003 1624236 0 lynn 1 1624103 Ruth, the world needs more geniuses like you!! Wed Dec 24 15:09:06 -0800 2003 1624085 0 Mariko 1 1624108 Ruth, that sounds like a version of the chocolate afrikaans served at Angeline's in Paris -- a bar of rich chocolate melted in cream to a thicker than usual hot chocolate consistency (think of pudding before it starts to firm up in the pot). Your version must have been wonderful!!! Wed Dec 24 17:32:29 -0800 2003 1624085 0 LBQT 1 1624115 You've discovered chocolate ganache. The dirty little secret is anyone who works with it sneaks some spoonfuls while it's warm and liquid. You probably don't have to worry about seizing. The fat content of half and half is too high. Wed Dec 24 20:20:33 -0800 2003 1624085 0 sbp 2 1624237 h'mm...do you mean, the "dirty little secret" is that no one can resist the temptation of warm liquid chocolate, or that chocolate makers are leaving germs in the truffles? :-0 please clarify. I like to think of chocolatiers as a higher grade of humanity; far above any frailties like trailing bacteria in their wake...hope you can confirm my confidence in the species. Sun Dec 28 22:40:51 -0800 2003 1624115 0 butterisbetter 1 1624127 Hey that reminds me of something I did while in a meeting a few years ago. I'm not a coffee drinker, but was in a business meeting with only coffee drinkers. I used the boiling water (the meeting room only had hot water & instant coffee making the coffee drinkers upset as well...), hershey kisses and creamer. It didn't turn out half bad but it took me all day to perfect the recepie. Something like half a cup of water, 7 kisses and 2 or 3 thimbles of creamer but don't hold me to it. It's been a while and my memory fades. I remember bragging about it for months when we'd get going about meeting horror stories. Thu Dec 25 05:43:12 -0800 2003 1624085 0 Lion Dancer 1 1624144 we are "fortunate" enough to have a hot chocolate mix in the lab lunchroom. I usually heat up some milk in the microwave or with our espresso steamer, infuse that with a teabag of earl grey for a few minutes, then use that earl grey milk to make hot chocolate. Thu Dec 25 14:23:27 -0800 2003 1624085 0 Limster 1 1624191 brings new meaning to the phrase, "necessity be the mother of invention." Sat Dec 27 17:03:09 -0800 2003 1624085 0 lynn 1 1624332 I try to keep a box of Valrhona "Caribe" squares at my desk. Four of those work nicely for a 6-8 oz. cup. I usually use half whole milk and half half-n-half. YUM. I've also used the Droste dark chocolate pastilles on occasion. Sure beats that Swiss Miss mix they stock in our office kitchen. Mon Dec 29 17:37:54 -0800 2003 1624085 0 brooklynmonkey 2 1624371 Yup. I continued the experiment today with a couple of spoons of See's semi-sweet chocolate chips, four thimbles of half-and-half and the rest 2% milk (gotta draw the line somewhere). They never actually managed to get the temp in my office up to 68 today, so I had to have two cups. Bittersweet chocolate is next! Mon Dec 29 20:22:48 -0800 2003 1624332 0 Ruth Lafler 1 1625165 For future emergencies keep a cannister of Ghirardelli sweet ground chocolate in your desk. For a powder, this makes the best hot cocoa I've ever had. I make at the office (and at home) with whole milk with a good dash of cream (or half and half) in it. Of course, melting chocolate with a creamy dairy product is always going to make a fine drink Ruth! In France, of course, they rarely only make chocolat with just regular old plain whole milk (and the whole milk in France is often higher than 4% butterfat, too, to begin with). They are always tossing in extra cream. I don't argue with the French on matters like this :), I just imitate. At the Algonquin Hotel in New York, one of the room-service breakfast options is "hot chocolate made with your choice of skim milk, whole milk, or half and half". We chose the decadent option one morning (we justfied we'd walk it off by lunchtime!) and it was fantastic! It came in a little pot like a teapot, but a slightly different shape (I'd had tea the day before so I knew), and when we'd slurped it all up in the bottom of the pot was some obviously melted bar chocolate, not the residue from a powder. Fantastic. Dean and Deluca sells a French "chocolate pot" for an obscene price. I searched in vain in Paris for a cheaper version of this -- it's like a big coffee pot with an extra spout on the side with a wooden plunger. I don't know why they are so hard to come by. You could also make a simple ganache at home, refrigerate it to thicken it, and then reconstitute it at the office with hot milk. There's a good idea! I think I'll do that myself. Thanks for sharing your chowvention, Ruth! Link: http://www.deandeluca.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/store/framescat.d2w/report Tue Jan 06 14:51:04 -0800 2004 1624085 0 Mrs. Smith 2 1625183 I absolutely concur that Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa is the best powder for hot chocolate. It's a staple in my house, and is nicely bittersweet. I don't use the high-fat dairy products you do to make it at home, because I must restrain myself for health reasons (those darn high-cholesterol genes), but it mixes up nicely with many things (including yogurt, when I'm really craving chocolate and there's nothing else on hand). Currently, my co-hound uses it very regularly, along with Horlick's malted milk powder, to make very thick chocolate malted (cold) milk. Tue Jan 06 16:15:44 -0800 2004 1625165 0 Caitlin McGrath 2 1625188 I've been making hot chocolate from real chocolate almost every day now (although I only use a little half-and-half to make the ganache, then use nonfat milk -- which is what I usually drink -- for the bulk of it). I also did just what you said at home: melted a block of chocolate, added half-and-half to the ganache stage, and then put it in the fridge for multiple servings later. I have an antique pot I inherited from my grandmother that is supposedly a chocolate pot: it's a small, teapot-eque vessel made of pewter with a hinged lid. Anyone know if there are reasons why I shouldn't use it? Would 18th century pewter have lead in it, and would it leach out into a non-acidic liquid in the few minutes it would be in the pot? I would love to be able to use it! Tue Jan 06 16:36:06 -0800 2004 1625165 0 Ruth Lafler 2 1625198 I want that chocolate pot! Someday, when I win the lottery, I will buy a truckload of cooking stuff. Image: http://www.deandeluca.com/images/products/full/f_11279.jpg Tue Jan 06 17:54:08 -0800 2004 1625165 0 Val G 2 1625238 My new favorite cocoa powder for hot chocolate is Scharffen Berger. While waiting for the Scharffen Berger factory tour to begin a few weekends ago (thank you, SF Chowhounds for the recommendation--you made me and my out of town company very happy) I warmed up with a sip of their complimentary hot chocolate. It is intense, complex yet clean and very, very rich. It is pure cocoa--no milk or alkali added. Link: http://www.scharffenberger.com Tue Jan 06 23:23:29 -0800 2004 1625165 0 chowfish