Friday, December 21, 2012

Hot Chocolate On A Stick


I feel like some gourmet hot chocolate and the nearest starbucks is over 50 kilometers away :(   
 Then I find this recipe for hot chocolate on a stick? 
 Can you believe I have all the ingredients on hand?  
The base I made was from King Aurthur Flour website.

Hot Chocolate Blocks
From King Arthur Flour
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • One 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
  • 3 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped or in chips (Jane note: I actually used 1 cup 60% cacao chips, 1 cup semi-sweet chips, and 1 cup milk chocolate chips)
  • One 4-oz bar unsweetened chocolate (broken or chopped into smaller pieces)
  • Wooden or cookie/lollipop sticks
  • 8″x8″ pan, lined with parchment paper
Heat the cream and sweetened condensed milk over medium-low heat until it starts steaming, stirring periodically. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes, then put back on medium-low heat and stir with a whisk until chocolate is completely melted and shiny. (At this point you could add some flavoring…vanilla, hazelnut, peppermint, whatever fits your fancy!)
Pour chocolate into prepared pan and spread chocolate as level as you possibly can. Let sit overnight (12 hours or so).



I originally tried a marshmallow recipe from the site, Cooking for Engineers!  Hubby told me if I failed, it was because of my equipment....blah blah blah.  I went to the Martha Stewart website and had no problem with her recipe!  Okay, I guess it could have been me but thanks Martha ;D

Of course I put my own spin on it.  This recipe is for double what you need.  Instead of halving it, I prepared another 8x8 pan with foil.  I poured half of the mixture into this pan, and instead of rolling in icing sugar, like most recipes call for, I toasted coconut in a pan and rolled the marshmallows in the coconut to put on my baking trays for Christmas!

Martha Stewart Living, February 1996
  • Yield Makes about 40
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Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons pure vanilla  I used orange extract
  • Confectioners' sugar, for dusting. Didn't do this

Directions

  1. Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment. Let stand 30 minutes.
  2. Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a small heavy saucepan; place over low heat, and stir until sugar has dissolved. Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to dissolve sugar crystals.
  3. Clip on a candy thermometer; raise heat to high. Cook syrup without stirring until it reaches 244 degrees (firm-ball stage). Immediately remove pan from heat.
  4. With mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully pour syrup into the softened gelatin. Increase speed to high; beat until mixture is very thick and white and has almost tripled in volume, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla ORANGE extract; beat to incorporate.  I also added some food coloring to make them orange.
  5. Pour half of this recipe over top of your hot chocolate base.  Let sit overnight, uncovered.  This will help to dry the marshmallows out so that they will firm up!



  After they had set up, I cut them into 1x1 squares and put a large coffee stir stick into the center of each one.  I bought these at the dollar store a while back.  They are wooden and resemble a popsicle stick but are longer and narrower!  I wrapped each hot chocolate block in a cellophane bag, made some labels, used some ribbon and packaged them up! 




The real test was the hubby test.  We had a block after supper last night and it was probably one of the best cups of hot chocolate that we have ever tasted.   These are going to make great gifts. 
Cheers!


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