Recipe - Alton Brown's Reloaded Cocoa Syrup

I very much enjoy making my own chocolate syrup. Much like making homemade marshmallows, it elevates it to a whole new level and makes it extra delicious. I also enjoy basically everything Alton Brown does. His show Good Eats has been one of my favorite shows for years. A year or so ago, Mr. Brown started revisiting certain episodes, updating the recipes and techniques, and calling it Good Eats: Reloaded. He's done a few chocolate episodes, and once I got them on my DVR, I refuse to delete them! One of them is The Art of Darkness II: The Reload. In it, he updated his chocolate syrup recipe, and I just had to give it a try!

Here's the ingredients:

3 cups sugar
1½ cup water
2 tbsp corn syrup
1½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground black cardamom

The tricky part of that ingredient list is the black cardamom. It takes a bit of preparation, but please do it!

It's SO worth it!

And no, the cardamom you already have is probably not black cardamom.

Black cardamom is different from the typical cardamom spice shaker found in most kitchens. Regular cardamom is actually green cardamom. I had to order the black cardamom online from a spice company, I grabbed it HERE.

The black cardamom comes as whole pods, so you have to grind it yourself. You can either throw them in a spice grinder, if you have one, or use a mortar and pestle, which is what I have. First I cracked open the pods and pulled off the fibrous husks, leaving only the little black spheres inside. They kind of look like peppercorns. Once you've got them ground in your device of choice, sift them to make sure you get all the little fibrous bits out.

Put the water, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and get it boiling. While it's heating, in your food processor, put in the cocoa powder and salt. Give it a few pulses to start getting it blended.

Once the sugar mixture is boiling and not cloudy, and with the lid on your food processor, turn the processor on and slowly pour the hot liquid into the feed tube. Once it's all in, add the vanilla and the black cardamom.

Let it cool for 10 or 20 minutes in the food processor bowl, then use a funnel and pour it into squeeze bottles. I was able to fill 3 bottles. You can keep them in the fridge, or even freeze some and thaw them as needed.

Have you tasted it yet? I was tasting it right out of the processor bowl! Wow, it's SO GOOD! The first taste, I was a little surprised at the flavor the black cardamom brought to it, but then I just couldn't stop tasting it. I still can't! Every time I'm in the kitchen, I have a spoonful.

I'm not sure how to describe it. Try to imagine allspice but with hints of mint and clove. I guess that might be close, although it's a bit more complex than that.

I've been making cold chocolate milk with this, the same way I would make chocolate milk with any other syrup. Wow, what a wonderful, spiced flavor! It's also very aromatic, which is a delight when mixing up a simple glass of chocolate milk. Definitely let's you know you've got something special happening. 

This recipe has me so excited, I want to do all kinds of variations on it. I'd like to try one where the cocoa powder ratio is 50% of the other ingredients. I'd like to try one where I reduce the black cardamom by half, and one where I add a touch of cinnamon, or maybe allspice, ginger, or nutmeg. So much to explore!

If you give it a try, please let me know what you think! And thanks, Alton! 

Review - Commissary Hot Chocolate

Here in Burbank where I live, there is a depressing shortage of good hot chocolates. Sure, every diner on every street serves one in a small coffee cup, topped with whipped cream, but we all know that's just the powder mix. And cafes and coffee shops have hot chocolate, of course, but I've rarely found these to be up to the quality level I expect.

Earlier this year, Commissary opened right across the street from the Burbank Studios (formerly NBC). We had heard the coffee there was worth stopping in for, so one Saturday, my fiance, her sister, and I stopped by. And that leads us to this, my first review of a hot chocolate from a cafe or restaurant.

There was no hot chocolates listed on the menu, so I ordered a water with a pastry. As they were preparing the coffee my fiance and her sister had ordered, my fiance asked if they made hot chocolate. It turns out they do.

They told us they make a ganache with Tcho chocolate and use that with steamed milk to make it. Great! This is what I had been looking for here in my hometown! A great quality hot chocolate, using an amazing artisan chocolate like Tcho! Why wasn't it on the menu?

The next weekend we came back, and I asked about their hot chocolates. They make a regular and a cinnamon flavored one. I ordered both, along with a chocolate chip cookie. You can never have too much chocolate!

The verdict? Not bad, but not what I had hoped, either. The regular hot chocolate was tasty, but very mild. It tasted more of steamed milk than of hot chocolate. The cinnamon one had the same small amount of chocolate flavor but also very strong cinnamon. Cinnamon was definitely the dominant flavor, where as I thought the chocolate should have been.

I'm going to go again. Maybe the guy making it that day was a little off, or maybe I can even ask them to crank it up a notch for me. I'd love it if they really let the Tcho chocolate come through and be the main flavor. They're definitely on the right path, using the right stuff. They just need to amp it up a bit.

Los Angeles certainly has plenty of amazing hot chocolates, and I plan to review many more. In fact, sometime soon I'd like to do a post on my top ten in the city. Anyone have any recommendations? As for Burbank, I'm still searching. Have you tried the hot chocolate at Commissary? What did you think?

UPDATE 7/24/14 - I stopped in again, and this time when I ordered the regular hot chocolate, I asked them to make it double strong. He asked me "Double the chocolate?" to which I replied, naturally, "Yes, please!". Much better! This was the hot chocolate I had been hoping for. Very chocolatey and rich, you could really taste the quality chocolate this time. I'm not sure what kind of milk they used as the base, but it was a bit thin. That's a minor critique, though. If you go, order a double strong hot chocolate.

Recipe - Homemade Chocolate Syrup

That picture is not hot chocolate. It could easily become hot chocolate, though!

Today's post is about making your own chocolate syrup, which can be used for making both hot chocolate and cold chocolate milk. It's good for tons of things, as I'm sure you know. On top of ice cream, pies, in milkshakes, etc. Me? Well, I like to eat it straight from the bottle!

I'm sure everyone reading this has had Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. Good stuff! But did you ever take a look at the label? I'm not exactly a health nut (I have a blog about chocolate, after all), but once I learned how to make my own chocolate syrup, I had to wonder, what is some of the stuff on the ingredients list of Hershey's syrup?

Take a look.

The first ingredient is high fructose corn syrup. I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you how bad that is for you. It's not regular corn syrup. It's really bad for you, and it's in so many things today. In fact, here's an article called "5 Reasons HFCS Will Kill You."

Next ingredient is corn syrup, followed by water, cocoa, and sugar. Those make sense. Then it gets crazy.

Potassium sorbate. This is a synthetic preservative. While it does occur naturally in some berries, virtually all of the world's supply is manufactured synthetically.

Salt. You know what that is.

Mono and Diglycerides. These are emulsifying agents. They help keep the product from separating into its individual ingredients and add a little shelf life to it.

Xantham Gum. Another emulsifier. Just like the mono and diglycerides, it's relatively safe to eat, but if you like knowing what you're eating, it's something extra you don't need.

Polysorbate 60. Another emulsifier. Seriously, how many emulsifiers does one product need? I suspect these emulsifiers keep the syrup flowing smoothly, as well.

Vanillin. This is vanilla flavor, basically. It's the chemical in vanilla that makes the vanilla flavor. However, in this product, it's probably synthetically created because it's much cheaper than using real vanilla.

Finally, artificial flavor. As far as I can tell, this is a "chemical mixture that mimics a natural flavor in some way." So yeah, have fun with that.

It's sad that something as simple as chocolate syrup literally has to become a chemistry lesson to learn what's in it. Does it really have to be that complicated? Heck no! In fact, if we take a look at the list of ingredients in Hershey's syrup and keep only the things we understand, it's perfect! Well, let's scratch off the corn syrup, too. We know what that is, it's used a lot in candy making, but we only need one sweetener here.

Chocolate syrup ingredient list:

4 oz hot water
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup natural cocoa powder

And, if you want:

Pinch of salt (optional)
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

And you'll need a bottle like the one pictured here.






The best thing about making chocolate syrup yourself is the flavor! You can choose any cocoa powder you want. There are many artisanal chocolate makers out there creating some of the best, tastiest cocoa powders ever. I'm using Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder.

Interesting that they put the word natural right there on the label. Why would they need to make a distinction from any other cocoa powder? Well, because most cocoa powder is Dutch-processed, or alkalized. To quote Askinosie Chocolate's Facebook page: "Alkalization (also called “Dutch processing”) is a chemical processing of cocoa powder. Chocolate makers do this to create a uniform color and flavor when mixing various origins together and to tame the flavor by reducing the acidity. Unfortunately, this process strips away the complexity of flavor and removes many of the beneficial compounds naturally found in chocolate, not to mention fails to maintain the integrity of the origin, which is one of our main goals as single origin chocolate makers!"

When they mention origin, they mean the cacao bean. Cacao beans from different places around the world and different trees all have different flavors. To artisanal chocolate makers, the origin of the bean is incredibly important! That's what separates them from the mass-market cheap stuff (like the folks who make chocolate syrup loaded with emulsifiers).

Some cocoa powders I would recommend:

Askinosie

Tcho

Varlhona

Scharffen Berger

Ok, let's get to making this stuff already!

Put the water in a pot on medium heat.

In a bowl, mix the cocoa powder and the sugar. Cocoa powder on its own has a tough time blending into water, so mixing it beforehand with the sugar will help a lot.

Once the water is hot, but not boiling, slowly add in the powder mix while you whisk. Keep whisking while the sugar melts and everything dissolves nicely and becomes delicious, amazing chocolate syrup. If you want to add vanilla or a pinch of salt, now would be the time. Don't let the mixture boil, just whisk until it's smooth.

Turn off the heat and let it cool. I like to keep whisking slowly while it cools.

Once it's cool, go ahead and pour it into your dispenser. Or pour some right into some warm milk for a great hot chocolate!

It may thicken or solidify slightly in the bottle, since we've left out all those emulsifiers that keep it smooth and runny. Just pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds and you're good to go.

Or, you could even pour it into a jar instead of a bottle, and simply spoon portions out whenever you want some.

Recipe - Maple Hot Chocolate

Truer words were never spoken.

This time, we're adding some maple into the cup with that chocolate we love so much. This is a great variation on a normal, milder hot chocolate. When I first stumbled upon some recipes, I thought it would be way too sweet to be any good. Boy, was I wrong! The chocolate is light, the maple isn't overpowering, and this cup is just plain delicious. It's the kind of hot chocolate that I think of as a breakfast hot chocolate rather than a dessert hot chocolate. In fact, it's one of the few I've made that my girlfriend asked for more of!

Let's get it on!

Here's what we need:

1 cup milk (2% or whole)
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp REAL maple syrup (no corn syrup!)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract










Crazy ingredients list, huh? I know you're wondering "Butter?!" Yep, butter. And I'm serious about the real maple syrup. If it's not 100% real, it's just flavored corn syrup. If you're gonna use that, you may as well just make your hot chocolate from a paper packet.

Real maple syrup not only tastes better, it's better for you. Of course, like any sweetener, you should use it in moderation, but seriously, if you're at the store and you're buying syrup that tastes like the sap of a tree, why not buy the real sap? Save the corn syrup for marshmallows!

And what's that weird box in the ingredients picture? Let me show you!

Polish cocoa powder! I've been coming across many cocoa powders from different countries in the international markets around town, and I've been snapping them up as more interesting options than just the standard American cocoa powders (mainly Hershey's, which I'm betting is what everyone has in their house).

Wawel is Polish chocolate maker, and that artwork on their box is just awesome! Did they put chunks of chocolate on it, or cacao pods? No! They put ancient warships battling on it! Actually, I have no idea if those are warships, or if they're battling, but it's awesome nonetheless.

Add the tablespoon of water into the milk and heat it up. While that's warming, measure out the remaining ingredients. Keep the maple syrup separate from the others - we'll add it last. Once the milk is nice and hot, but not boiling, go ahead and add the brown sugar, cocoa, butter, and vanilla. Whisk it together until there are no clumps of cocoa powder and the butter is completely melted. Then finally, turn off the heat and mix in the maple syrup. Once that's in, you're good to go!

I recently got a few retro hot cocoa branded mugs from ebay, so you'll be seeing them pop up on here, regardless of what hot chocolate I'm pouring into them. This Carnation one is filled with maritime battle-worthy cocoa powder and the blood of trees! Try it out, let me know what you think!