Hot Chocolate on a Stick (aka Fudge Blocks)
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Day 7 of the 12 Days of Christmas Treats |
I couldn’t give you a marshmallow recipe without also giving you a hot chocolate recipe! And what a recipe this is! Hot chocolate on a stick has to be one of the best ideas I’ve seen this Christmas season. Basically it’s a block of fudge that you swirl into warm milk, creating the most wonderful mug of hot chocolate you’ve ever had. It’s smooth and creamy, and the chocolate blends perfectly into the milk, with no powdery residue like you get from so many hot cocoa mixes.
One of the best things about this chocolate treat is you can control the richness of your drink by cutting your chocolate into different size pieces. I cut a few uniform size blocks with sticks in them like you see here for fun and ease of stirring.
But for longer term storage, I cut the chocolate into smaller blocks that I’ve been storing in the freezer. When one of us wants a cup of hot chocolate, we simply take some chocolate out of the freezer (one block for a smaller mug, two blocks for a larger mug), drop it into a mug of milk and microwave. It’s wonderful.
But what might be even more wonderful is the way these chocolate blocks taste on their own. So rich and creamy and fudge-like! If it tells you anything about the difference between Mike and I, I tend to take a chocolate block and just eat it plain, while Mike has yet to do that once. He has, however, had multiple mugs of hot chocolate.
Try this, you won’t regret it.
P.S. You can see all of my Christmas treat recipes from over the years at this Christmas Cookies tag. Enjoy! And, as always, let me know if you try any and how you liked them.
Hot Chocolate on a Stick (aka Fudge Blocks)
Yield: Yield: about 3 dozen blocks.
Ingredients:
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (1 1/4 cups)
- 3 cups (18 oz) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (chopped chocolate bars or chips)
- 3/4 cup (4 oz) unsweetened baking chocolate
- wooden sticks
Directions:
- Line an 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper. Heat the cream and condensed milk over low heat until steaming. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate; allow it to gently melt.
- After about 10 minutes, return the chocolate mixture to low heat to completely melt the chocolate. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is thick and shiny. At this point you could ddd a few drops of flavoring oil (such as hazelnut, coffee, or vanilla).
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the pan; shake the pan gently to level. Sprinkle with cocoa, if desired. Set aside overnight to slowly harden.
- Run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn out onto a clean cutting surface. Slice into 1 ¼" cubes (or size desired for serving). Heat a knife in hot water and wipe dry before each cut, for smoothest cuts.
- Stick a wooden stick into the center of each block. Roll in cocoa or crushed peppermint candy, if desired.
- Wrap in waxed paper, parchment, or plastic wrap to store. (I'm storing mine in a tupperware in the freezer, with layers separated by waxed paper.) These will keep at room temperature 3-4 days, in the fridge about 10 days, in the freezer up to 30 days.
from King Arthur Flour
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