Heavenly Belgian Style Hot Chocolate

I thought I was going to sleep early. However, I decided to take a last minute peek at David Lebovitz's blog where he posted a heavenly recipe and pictures of a Belgian Style Hot Chocolate. The recipe is from a famous Belgian chocolate shop in Brussels called Wittamer.

The recipe contains a luscious blend of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate with milk chocolate to form an amazing chocolaty beverage. The pictures posted speak volumes. At least tonight I know I will have sweet dreams!

Chocolata Cocoa Bar No More

It's been very hectic in our household the past few weeks. A lot of work related travel with no hot chocolate adventures. The good thing is that I had a little time to reflect on a few things while being shuttled from one airport to another. When I finally returned to the home front, I realized something was missing from our local stomping grounds. One of the few chocolate bars here in the Houston/The Woodlands area, Chocolata Cocoa Bar, closed leaving cocoa enthusiasts saddened.

Prior to Chocolata shuttering its doors, we had the chance to enjoy the cocoa lounge with it's comfy couches and board game playing tables.

Here are a few pictures from our early Sunday morning adventure to avoid the typical Market Street and The Woodlands Mall traffic.

Cacao for Breakfast

Since the other half came home early from his business trip, we made time for a little hot chocolate tasting. Unfortunately, we've been traveling quite extensively lately. So, this was a rare opportunity in recent months.

For this adventure, it was time to try Hershey's Cacao Reserve Drinking Cocoa purchased during a Wal-Mart excursion. To accompany our meal, I decided to whip up some scrambled eggs with beef sausage, cheddar, monterey jack and asadera cheese, white onions, salt and pepper to taste, and wheat toast with real butter.

To prepare the cocoa, I decided to serve one serving with whole milk and the other with water. The primary directions state to blend with water. But everyone knows cocoa is always best with milk! Cacao Reserve is a cocoa powder therefore, the cocoa butter (cocoa fat) has been extracted so I already know the consistency will be thin. When a cocoa powder is blended with milk, the beverage becomes creamier and most importantly, tastier.

Although the pictures are not very clear, the mug to the left is the milk blend and the one on the right is made with water. The difference in color is strong in real life. The other half took the first sip of the milk blended cocoa. A pause came next. After a few moments he said, "acceptable". My turn was next. I was already knew deep down in my heart what was to come, but I will give anything a benefit of the doubt. I sipped the water blended Cacao Reserve. As it trickled down my throat, I thought to myself "common". We exchanged mugs and the other half and I agreed the cocoa with milk was a much better choice out of the two.

However, I must admit that this was better than the typical cocoa powder mix you find on the grocery store shelves. If you enjoy a quick and easy cocoa beverage this would be "OK".

Stimulate the economy with Salted Caramel Signature Hot Chocolate

With another round of layoffs announced at Starbucks, my husband and I decided to help “stimulate” the economy by walking to our local cafe for hot chocolate. Since neither one of us frequent Starbucks, it is always a comedy of errors when it comes to ordering. But this time, I knew we were there to try the last of the Signature Hot Chocolate trio: Salted Caramel Signature Hot Chocolate. We both ordered a tall (or in my world a small) and took our seat with anticipation of what this recipe will have in store for us.

Now from my last few visits to Starbucks, I enjoyed their Classic Signature Hot Chocolate and passed on the Hazelnut Signature Hot Chocolate. When our order was called my husband went to retrieve our two cups and we proceeded to take a seat to try our beverage.

In my haste to take a sip, I dropped a little bit of hot chocolate on my pants. Grrrh! Mine was the perfect temperature, with a nice blend of sweet with a hint of salt. Most importantly, no after taste.

Out of three recipes, I rank Starbuck’s Signature Hot Chocolates as follows:

1. Classic Signature Hot Chocolate
2. Salted Caramel Signature Hot Chocolate
3. (a distant 3rd) Hazelnut Signature Hot Chocolate

I hope our small contribution helped out our local Starbucks as we left the cafe fulfilled from another hot chocolate adventure.

Hot Chocolate from the Best...Mr. Chocolate

Need I say more! Learn to make hot chocolate from a world renown chocolatier, Jacques Torres (aka Mr. Chocolate).

Cacao Reserve for All

Since I wanted to stretch the next couple of paychecks in order to get some work performed on our house, a decision was made to go to Wal-Mart for a little household shopping. As a die-hard Target girl I wasn’t pleased, but we must do what we got to do to get by.

Like any cocoa connoisseur, I had to browse the hot chocolate/ coffee/ tea aisle to see what selects were available for Wal-Mart shoppers. Cacao Reserve by Hershey’s Drinking Cocoa Premium Mix caught my attention. At a price point of $2.07 for 5 servings, anyone has the chance to try a drinking cocoa. Over the past year, Hershey has worked to distinguished themselves in the premium chocolate arena with the introduction of Cacao Reserve chocolate bars and cocoa mixes. Now, The Nibble provided a favorable review of the Cacao Reserve chocolate bars. However, they were not as fond of the drinking cocoa as they were the bar chocolate.

I guess I will have to try it himself to form my own opinion. But any hot chocolate can be doctored up to create a delicious drink.