Let’s be real for a moment. Valentine’s Day takes place during the winter, leaving a chill in the air with even the warmest embraces. Get ready to cuddle and cozy up to your beloved with our Melt Your Heart Valentine’s Day White Chocolate Cocktail. You’ll fall in love with this hot, sippable surprise of white chocolate and tart cherry. It’s sort of like hot chocolate but much better because there’s tequila involved.
Is White Chocolate Actually Chocolate?
This debate has probably ruined relationships. So, before you get into a fight about this while making this white chocolate cocktail: yes, white chocolate is chocolate. It contains the same cocoa beans as regular chocolate, but goes past several of the normal steps. In order to qualify as chocolate, white chocolate has to have at least 20% cocoa butter in it according to the FDA. However, the white chocolate haters and deniers are not exactly wrong: the FDA didn’t consider white chocolate to be chocolate until 2002, because it did not have the chocolate liquor solids that give milk and dark chocolate its color and taste. But that changed over time as white chocolate became more popular in both baking and retail shopping. Sure, the sweetness of white chocolate isn’t for everyone, but it’s delicious in this cocktail, and if you don’t like it, there’s plenty of tequila in the drink too.
Melt Your Heart Valentine’s Day White Chocolate Cocktail
Description
A recipe as sweet as your love.
Ingredients
For the cocktail:
- 3 oz full fat coconut milk
- 1.5 oz white chocolate syrup (see below)
- 1.5 oz tequila
- 1 oz tart cherry juice
- Ginger bitters
- Mug for glassware
- Milk chocolate curls for garnish
For the white chocolate syrup:
- 480 grams 35% white chocolate discs (we used Mon Aimee)
- 270 grams full fat oat milk or coconut milk
- 35 grams white sugar
Instructions
For the cocktail:
- Add coconut milk, white chocolate syrup and tart cherry juice to a saucepan and bring up to a low simmer over medium-low heat.
- Remove from heat and pour into your favorite mug, then add your tequila and a few dashes of ginger bitters (to taste), then stir to combine.
For the white chocolate syrup:
- Add all ingredients until a medium saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and the chocolate has melted.
- Stir constantly to ensure your syrup doesn’t burn and keep a close eye on your temperature.
- Transfer to a container while the syrup is still hot, scraping the side of your saucepan with a rubber spatula.
- Allow to cool and store refrigerated for up to a month.
Recipe by Kaitlin Fellers
Photography by Dave Bryce
Styling by Anna Franklin
Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.