Frothy Oaxacan Chocolate de Agua with Homemade Almond-Canela Tablets

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Oaxaca's market-stall drinking chocolate is made with water, not milk, so the cacao tastes like cacao — deep, faintly bitter, perfumed with true canela and toasted almond. You grind your own rustic chocolate tablets in a food processor (deliberately gritty, the way the real ones are), then whisk them into hot water and beat the pot until it wears a thick cap of foam. A spoonful of masa harina is optional, for a rounder, atole-adjacent body.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raw whole almonds
• 6 oz unsweetened 100% cacao chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup granulated or turbinado sugar
• 2 tsp ground Mexican canela (true cinnamon)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground ancho or guajillo chile (optional)

• 4 cups water
• 1 stick Mexican canela stick (about 3 inches)
• 5 oz almond-canela chocolate tablets, chopped (about 3/4 of the batch)
• 1 tbsp masa harina, optional, for a rounder body
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• piloncillo or extra sugar, to taste

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Spread the almonds on a small sheet pan and toast 8–10 minutes, until fragrant and just golden inside when you break one. Cool completely — warm nuts will turn the mixture pasty.
2. Melt the chopped unsweetened chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over an inch of barely simmering water, stirring, until fluid and smooth, about 4 minutes. It should feel warm, not hot (around 110–115°F). Set aside off the heat.
3. In a food processor, pulse the cooled almonds with 1/4 cup of the sugar in 1-second bursts, 15–20 times, until they look like coarse sand with a few slightly larger flecks. Do not run it long enough to make almond butter.
4. Add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, the ground canela, salt and chile if using, and pulse 5 times to combine. With the machine running, pour in the melted chocolate and process 45–60 seconds, scraping down once, until you have a thick, grainy, slightly warm paste that clumps around the blade. Rustic grit is the goal.
5. Scrape the paste onto a sheet of parchment, press it into a slab about 1/2 inch thick, and score it into 8 rough squares with a bench knife or the back of a chef's knife. Let it set at room temperature for 1 hour (or 20 minutes in the refrigerator), then break along the scores. Weigh out 5 oz for the drink and store the rest in an airtight jar.
6. Combine the water and canela stick in a 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a bare simmer and cook 5 minutes to draw out the spice. Fish out the canela stick and reserve it.
7. Whisk in the chopped 5 oz of chocolate tablets and the pinch of salt over medium-low heat, whisking constantly for 3–4 minutes until the chocolate is fully dissolved and the liquid is glossy. Keep it between 175°F and 185°F and do not let it boil — boiling scorches the cacao and breaks the foam.
8. If you want a rounder, slightly thicker cup, whisk the masa harina with 3 tablespoons cold water until completely smooth, then dribble it into the pot while whisking. Simmer gently 3 minutes, whisking, until the drink coats a spoon lightly and tastes of corn rather than raw flour.
9. Taste and add piloncillo or sugar a teaspoon at a time; Oaxacan chocolate de agua should stay on the bittersweet side.
10. Build the foam: off the heat, work a molinillo between your palms for 45–60 seconds, or tilt the pan and run an immersion blender just at the surface in 10-second bursts, or whisk hard for 90 seconds. Stop when a 1-inch cap of tight bubbles rises. Pour immediately from a height of 6–8 inches into warmed mugs, spooning the foam over the top, and serve with the reserved canela stick as a stirrer.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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