My favorite hot chocolate in the world, thus far, is Hot Chocolate Abuela made by Chuao Chocolatier. Chuao makes their Abuela hot chocolate from Grandma's secret recipe of blending the flavors of Venezuelen bittersweet chocolates. Who's grandma they are talking about, who knows, but it sounds good. I'm telling you that I am a total consumer sucker for anything that is marketed as "Grandma" or "Grandpa" made. But in this case, this hot cocoa mix seriously is the best I have ever had, and if you are going to have a chocolate treat, you might as well have the best.
What makes this Abuela so good is that there are actual chunks of chocolate in the mix so when they dissolve it tastes like you've dissolved a candy bar in your milk. For my cocoas, I use Whole Foods 365 brand Organic rice milk, and you cannot tell the difference between rice or cow's milk.
I've discovered though that you cannot microwave the milk and then stir in the mix. The chocolate chunks will not melt properly so you end up swallowing the chunks and trust me it is not as enjoyable as it sounds. I like my cocoa think and silky, so, this Abuela hot chocolate has to be made in a pot unless you have a fancy espresso machine at home to get the temp hot enough for the chocolate chunks to melt. I don't, so stove is what we do. Plus, I kinda like making the cocoa over the stove. It reminds me of how my mom used to make hot chocolate for me and my brothers. This was before microwaves were around in everyone's home. I know, I may sound like I'm an old fart but really, microwaves didn't hit mainstream America until the 80s.
Since I only made chocolate for myself, I only made 1/2 a cup.I know it looks less than that here, but I took some "tasting" sips before the shot. This amount is good enough to satisfy a chocolate craving because the cocoa is really thick. Well, you could make it thinner using more milk, but trust me, you want this cocoa on the think side. It is soooooooo dee-lish!
