Chocolate Bonding

Over here in this part of the world, we are trying to get Spring to visit.  It's May already and yet we're still wearing sweaters and socks and shoes. 

To warm things up, a friend, whom I'll call Jack-O, suggested that we get together and cook up some authentic hot chocolate from the movie Chocolat.  

Naturally, I possess a copy of the cookbook, written by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde.  On a side note, Harris wrote the original novel, which the movie is loosely based on.  But never mind that, it's a post about how we went about making the recipe and whether it turned out.

Oh, the suspense!

First, we had to procure all the ingredients for the tasty delight.  Jack-O is a milk drinker, so she had that, and I like hot foods, so I brought the chili peppers.  The recipe also called for optional brown sugar so I substituted cane instead.  The vanilla, 70% cocoa chocolate, and whipping cream we found at a local drugstore, after finding the market closed.  Geez, you'd think they'd be open on the day we decide to make our treat...

Now, Jack-O, she didn't turn out to have the greatest kitchen supplies, so we improvised.  A vegetable peeler worked to shred the chocolate into small flakes for easy melting while two forks took the place of a whisk to turn the cream from liquid to fluffy goodness.  My arm is still numb.  

Pouring it into the mugs, we applied mountains of whipped cream to each.  The photograph in the book showed the prepared drink with a dribble of chocolate over top the cream - well, the recipe called for chocolate shavings.  Totally thrown off course, the discrepancy nearly cost us our friendship!  In the end, I agreed to put up with the shavings.  

Another thing that bothered us initially centered around the added chili. The recipe called for a whole one, seeded, and removed from the mix after the simmering process - we ended up using dried crushed pepper.  It worked.

Sipping on the hot chocolate left such an exquisite taste in our mouths.  The subtleness of hot pepper combined with real dark chocolate blew us away.  

I don't know if the combination of cocoa and chili peppers is legal in this country, but I will say that ingesting it leaves the mind in an altered state.  

Floating along, we found ourselves in a magical moment.  The damned cocoa-peppers got us drunk!  Regardless of the means, we were there, in the same state of mind--but without the presence of Johnny Depp...

The cups sat unfinished!  Foods made with real ingredients instead of processed syrups tend to curb the appetite.  That meant more for later.

Rating:  10 / 10 - excellent taste, smell, feel, and atmosphere.