Hot Chocolate on a Stick

I read about these fantastic-looking treats on a chat forum and followed a link that took me to this blog. Giver's Log has a lot of beautiful, wonderful gift ideas. I'm really excited to give these hot chocolate sticks to people for the winter holidays. My mom and sister were really impressed with how they turned out.

I used old-fashioned hard plastic ice cube trays and had a hard time getting the chocolate out of them. If you twist the tray too soon, the chocolate will crack, and let's just say 2 of my chocolate cubes had to be sacrificed to the "greater good". I'll bet those new-fangled silicone ones would be much easier, plus they come in very fun shapes. Giver's Log featured ones made in a long stick mold which would be perfect!

I packaged mine in cellophane bags and filled the bag with abotu 10 mini marshmallows.

Be sure to use decent quality chocolate. I used Swiss dark chocolate, Belgian milk chocolate, and a very good white chocolate (Green & Black's).

I crushed some candy-canes to a peppermint hot chocolate, chopped up some candied ginger for a slightly spicy hot chocolate, and of course left some plain for the purists.



Here's what you'll need!
(I ended up with 12 cubes)

Heat proof glass bowl (like pyrex)
Medium sized saucepan that the bowl can sit on
Wooden stir sticks or spoons if you can find them.

Ingredients:

300g of good quality chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
50g of good quality chocolate for dipping the cubes in (optional)
toppings, like crushed candy cane, chopped candied ginger, spices, etc. (optional)

Method

1. Chop chocolate into meltable pieces. Simmer a couple of inches of water in a pan and place glass bowl over the top to make a double boiler. Be sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water beneath it. Be sure to check the waterto make sure it stays at a simmer. Dump chocolate into the clean, dry bowl and stir as the chocolate melts.
2. Once the chocolate is 2/3 melted, with just some pieces of the chocolate unmelted, remove the pan from the heat and continue stirring until chocolate is fully melted.
3. Add cocoa, sugar, and salt and continue to stir until combined.
4. Lift the bowl off the pan and use a towel to dry off any drips of water. Using 2 spoons, spoon the chocolate into the ice cube tray (about 2 spoonfuls per cube)
   
5. Tap the ice cube tray on the counter to make sure all the chocolate settles into the mold. Add a stir stick and you’re done. The stir stick should stay upright without any trouble.

Let the chocolate cool at room temperature for 3 or more hours. Resist the urge to poke or twist the ice tray!

To remove, wiggle the stir stick slightly and give a gentle tug. If it really seems stuck, jab a sharp paring knife between the chocolate and the mold wall.

I had air bubbles in some of mine so I melted white chocolate to dip the cubes in for a snow-topped look. You can place these in a tall mug, stick down (of course) for the the topping to dry.

To enjoy, stir 1 stick of chocolate in a cup of very hot milk.

Giver's Log attached lovely tags to the stir sticks. Great idea!