Description
A Dickensian era delight, for the best of times and the worst of times.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups whole milk
- 4 fingers or wedges of Mexican chocolate, available online or in the Mexican section of your supermarket*
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/8 tsp ancho chili powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup tequila blanco
- 4 cinnamon sticks or 4 whole dried ancho chilis for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the milk, chocolate, brown sugar, cayenne, chili powder, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking until the chocolate dissolves. It may take five minutes or longer.
- Watch to make sure the milk doesn’t boil over. Pour two ounces of tequila into each of four mugs and add the hot chocolate when it’s heated through.
- Garnish with a cinnamon stick or a whole dried chili.
Notes
- Mexican chocolate comes in bar or disc form. One finger from the bar or a wedge from the disc is a single serving. Increase the number of segments for a more intense chocolate flavor.
- Create a richer hot chocolate by replacing up to half the milk with heavy cream. The velvety smoothness is arguably worth the clogged arteries.
- If you’re not into the heat of peppers, try leaning into more aromatic spices such as cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, or star anise. You can put the whole spices in the pan with the milk and strain them out later or grind the spices into a fine powder before combining them with the milk.