Chef Sandra Lee’s 1 hot chocolate recipe, 3 ways
When it comes to hosting for the holidays, Sandra Lee knows how to make recipes that dazzle the guests and one of her secrets just happens to be hot chocolate three ways. She calls it a “five months a year” kind of drink, and an easy way to add a bit of joy to any event no matter the holiday.
She shares her favorite hot chocolate recipe that she learned from a French chef in Paris. Her favorite part about the recipe is not only how thick and decadent it is, but how versatile it is as well. She suggests that you can make extra and stick it in the fridge overnight – the next day it will be pudding – ready for dessert. Alternatively, you can mix it with ice to make frozen hot chocolate – and buy a multipack of straws so everyone can have a different color and keep track of their cup.
Video Transcript
SANDRA LEE: Hi, everyone. I'm Sandra Lee. I have some ideas that are going to make you the hostess with the mostest this holiday. And it all starts off with the most delicious hot chocolate, ever. And I'm going to show you how to make that three different unique ways.
Now a lot of people always ask me, where did you get that hot chocolate recipe from? And I can tell you-- Paris. I met a chef and he had the most amazing hot chocolate I've ever had in my entire life. Let's start off with our first of three recipes.
Pot on the stove top. You're going to turn on your stovetop. The first thing you want to do is you want to add heavy whipping cream. Once this heats up, we're going to add a little bit of sugar and cocoa powder. This is just a quarter of a cup. It does call for vanilla, where it says one. I always put in two. Come on in here and give this a stir. You want to start combining all of this together as it heats up.
One cup of dark chocolate chips. If you want it really dark and wonderful, put in a little more. You can also do a combination of chips. Continually whisking this is one of the keys to get a velvety outcome in your hot chocolate.
Look at this. Yum. How decadent and delicious does that look? Put in marshmallows, if you want. I even found these cute things in the grocery store that are marshmallows and made to look like little snowmen.
I always like to put gift tag or a name tag on them with my guest's name. I think that that's a little bit more special. That is a winter wonderland in a glass.
And I'll give you a little secret-- let's talk about dessert. All you have to do is put this in to the refrigerator in little ramekins overnight, and it will set up, and it'll be pudding the next day. It's very simple to put a place card just like we did on the mug on the dessert. And then you know who's supposed to be sitting at that seat. You could even put in there a chocolate chip cookie, if you wanted to. That is a sweet, sweet dessert.
Let's talk about one more thing that you can make with this hot chocolate. It is called frozen hot chocolate. It's all sorts of wonderful in a glass. All you need is your blender full of ice. Just place the hot chocolate. You want to bring it to room temperature or cool it down a little bit before you put it over ice.
Into a glass it's going to go, thick and delicious. So if you're not going to put on a name tag, get a multi pack of straws, you will always have something that everybody can identify which one is theirs. That is just as beautiful as the hot hot chocolate.
Holiday hosting is always easy when you are using simple store-bought ingredients. And I promise you and yours are going to love this recipe. Happy holidays. Mwah.
