Parisian Café-Style Thick Drinking Chocolate (Chocolat Chaud)

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

This is the pour-it-slow, coats-the-spoon hot chocolate served in tiny cups at the grand Left Bank tea salons in Paris — closer to warm chocolate pudding than to cocoa from a packet. It gets its body from a big amount of real chopped dark chocolate plus a whisper of cornstarch, and its depth from Dutch-process cocoa bloomed in hot cream. Made in one saucepan in about 20 minutes, it's meant for 5- to 6-ounce cups: rich enough that a small serving is genuinely enough.

Ingredients

• 6 oz good 70% dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar, plus more to taste
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup cold heavy cream
• 2 tsp powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Chop the chocolate finely — pieces no bigger than a pea — and pile it in a bowl next to the stove. Fine pieces melt smoothly into the hot milk without needing extra heat, which is what keeps the texture glossy instead of grainy.
2. If you want the whipped cream, make it first: whip the 1/2 cup cold cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla to soft, floppy peaks (about 1 minute with a hand mixer on medium-high, or 2 minutes by hand). Refrigerate until serving.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the cocoa powder, sugar, cornstarch, and salt together until no cocoa lumps remain. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the milk to make a smooth, loose paste, like thin frosting.
4. Pour the remaining 1 3/4 cups milk and the 1/2 cup heavy cream into a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Warm over medium heat, stirring often, until it steams and reaches about 180°F, 5 to 6 minutes. Do not let it boil.
5. Whisk the cocoa slurry into the hot milk. Keep whisking over medium heat until the mixture just comes to a bare simmer and thickens slightly, about 2 minutes — this cooks out the raw starch taste and sets up the body.
6. Pull the pan off the heat and wait 30 seconds so the milk drops below scalding. Add the chopped chocolate all at once and let it sit undisturbed for 1 minute, then whisk from the center outward until completely smooth and shiny, about 1 minute. Whisk in the vanilla.
7. Return the pan to low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, until it reaches 170°F and thickly coats the back of a spoon — drag a finger through the coating and the line should hold. Do not boil once the chocolate is in.
8. Taste and adjust: add sugar 1 teaspoon at a time if your chocolate is very dark, or thin with a splash of hot milk if you want it more sippable. For a café-style foam, buzz the surface with an immersion blender for 10 seconds.
9. Let it stand off the heat for 5 minutes — it thickens noticeably as it cools toward drinking temperature. Pour into four small warmed cups (5 to 6 ounces each) and top or serve alongside the chantilly cream. Drink with a small spoon nearby.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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