This is a special treat for any occasion. It goes down as a welcome treat over Christmas, or a Valentine’s day surprise. Valentines day is a nice time to do something a bit different. The norm is wine and chocolate, and I decided – why not together!
The intent behind this is to make a red wine syrup, and then add your chocolate to it. The measurement that I put for the milk is much more of an approximation. After booking it down, I realised that I would need a bit more milk to thin it back out and make it work.
This recipe is to be served in wine glasses, it looks prettier, and don’t get nervous about the heat cracking the glass. I melted white chocolate in the microwave and drizzled it inside of the wine glass to be a garnish. This drink goes well with either – whipped cream, warm milk foam, or served similar to Irish coffees. How you make the cream for Irish Coffees is to take double cream, and whip it until it is thick, not fully whipped, but thick enough to float. To ensure that it doesn’t mix, pour the cream over the back of a spoon into the drink.
Queen of Hearts Hot Chocolate Recipe
Red wine and chocolate make for this warming, romantic, and indulgent drink.
Ingredients
- 300 mL Red wine
- 3.5 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 4 tbsps cocoa powder
- 3 pinches salt
- 200 mls milk (about this much, but you can do more or less depending on your own preference)
- 20 g white chocolate for garnish
Directions
- Step 1 Reduce Your Wine: In a small saucepan pour in your red wine and 2 tbsps of your sugar. Turn the heat on to high and leave it to reduce. You want to reduce your liquid until it is at least ½ to ⅓ of the amount of the original. Ideally you want it to a thick syrup at the end. However, use your own judgement for how long you want to leave it to reduce. I have suggested as least 20 minutes.
- Step 2 Add your vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, and the rest of your sugar. Turn the heat down to a low, and melt it through, but let it continue to boil. Once the temperature cools down enough and it is not rapidly boiling, slowly add the milk. You don’t want it to curdle.
- Step 3 As the milk mixes with the hot chocolate, melt your white chocolate in the microwave. One of the techniques that I find useful, is to put the chocolate into a bowl, and microwave it at short bursts of 30 seconds each.
- Step 4 With a spoon, drizzle the white chocolate into 2 wine glasses (they do look much prettier than mugs, and will show the chocolate better).
Serve your hot chocolates immediately and enjoy!
Enjoy.
