Excerpted from Alice Medrich’s Chocolate Holidays.

This is decadently rich! Demitasse portions are advised. This recipe brings out the special flavor characteristics of any chocolate you use. Try it with any good semisweet or bittersweet chocolate.

Very Rich Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

• 3 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 3/4 cup milk
• Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Place the chocolate in a small saucepan. Pour a little of the boiling water over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted. Add the rest of the boiling water and the milk. Heat the mixture, whisking constantly, until it is hot but not boiling. For the best flavor and texture, avoid exceeding 180°F. Serve immediately or set aside and reheat gently before serving.

About the Book:

Dramatic, seductive, playful, infinite in its variety, otherworldly in its taste: It’s chocolate, and here’s all the impetus you need to indulge your passion for it every day of the year. The beloved Alice Medrich, renowned for impeccable recipes that produce stellar results, has written Chocolate Holidays especially for people who love to bake but don’t have enough hours in the day. Without compromising on flavor, texture, or ingredients, she pares down the preparation steps, teaches us restraint, and comes up with fifty amazing recipes, each a little jewel of elegance and simplicity.

An ideal year in chocolate might start with a New Year’s brunch starring Chocolate Blini with Berry Caviar. Then there are Valentine’s Day chocolate scones and St. Patrick’s Day Irish Coffee Chocolate Mousse. And of course any “holiday” your imagination can conjure up is a perfect reason to indulge: perhaps a decadently rich hot chocolate served in demitasse portions to exorcise those end-of-February blues.

Spring might whisper chocolate Giant Krispy Easter Treats or a Passover Chocolate Nut Sponge Torte, or white chocolate-glazed Apricot Orange Cupcakes for a wedding shower. Summer suggests fruit and ice cream desserts such as the Independence Day red, white, and blue sundaes, followed by autumn’s pies and tarts laden with chocolate and nuts. And no matter what you’ve been putting on the table for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays past, it will be out-chocolated by Alice’s Chocolate Cranberry Pudding and her Chocolate Hazelnut Roulade—both unequivocally year-end musts.

In Chocolate Holidays, Medrich unlocks the secrets of our favorite sweet, offering chocolate desserts for every season, for every reason.

First published in hardcover as A Year in Chocolate (Warner Books, 2001)

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