Two attempts at Blackberry Hot Chocolate & Hot Cocoa

Inspired by a Martha Stewart podcast, I felt it was time to return to the kitchen. Since I had blackberries leftover from our luscious breakfast last week, it was time to create a fruit inspired hot chocolate. Bitter 100% Chocolate by Luker, a Colombian favorite used to make hot chocolate, Mexican Vanilla, cane sugar and heavy cream were the items identified for this recipe.

After the chocolate was melted in my double boiler, I added the heavy cream and vanilla. As the ingredients meshed together it was time to introduce 8 blackberries to the mix. Since my husband stripped the blending mechanism on our blender during a smoothie making trip, I could not properly blend the cream and berries together separately. So, I opted to do it the old fashion way. Once the berries heated up, I gently pressed them against the side of the boiler to release the flavors. Next, I added the cane sugar to taste and a little more milk to achieve a smoother texture. A strainer was used to separate the berries from the hot chocolate mixture. However, little chunks of chocolate were separated also since this chocolate is pure it doesn't melt so well.

Upon tasting the hot chocolate, I felt something was missing. I added a little orange extract which gave the drink a wonderful aroma. Now it was time for a taste from the other half. First he said, “its different” with a pause. Then came,“it needs to be sweeter”. Blah! I cannot stand sugary sweet hot chocolates. Nonetheless, here is the recipe of my 1st attempt at Blackberry Hot Chocolate:

1 square Luker Bitter Chocolate or Unsweetened Chocolate
¾ cup Heavy Cream
¼ cup Milk
½ tsp Mexican Vanilla or Vanilla
1 tbls Cane Sugar or Sugar
8 each Small Blackberries
¼ tsp Orange Extract

Since I personally didn’t care for the consistency of the final product, I decided to try it again with cocoa powder and 1% milk. With the cocoa powder, the mixture blended completely and the flavors came together much better. If I had oranges available, I would have used a real orange vs. the orange extract. The orange extract provided like a metallic taste to the recipe although it smelled quite flavorful. Sounds like a strange description, but that is what came to mind. I asked him to rate the recipe from a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being excellent, he scored the recipe a “3”.

Determined to make a better recipe, I tried the recipe again with a few modifications. On my 2nd attempt I decided to add cinnamon sticks and more sugar to the mix. The two cinnamon sticks and vanilla were added to the warming milk and stirred. Next came the Nomu cocoa powder and berries. Just like in my 1st attempt, I gently smashed the berries on the side of the basin to release the flavors. Sugar was added, but no orange extract.


Blackberry Hot Cocoa:
1 tbls Cocoa Powder
1 cup Milk
½ tsp Mexican Vanilla or Vanilla
8 each Blackberries
1 tbls + 2 tsp Cane Sugar or Sugar

The verdict on this one was a smile and “4”. Ahhh! Redemption.