Single Serve Hot Chocolate Recipe
Emma Fontanella’s Single Serve Italian Hot Chocolate
About My Italian Single Serve Hot Chocolate
Let’s make this single-serving, homemade hot chocolate that’s rich, creamy, and way better than those powdery mixes. Now, don’t get me wrong—those instant packets are super convenient. They’re perfectly measured for one mug, and you just add hot water. But let’s be real, most of them taste just OK. They’re nothing like homemade!
My homemade hot chocolate has a deep, rich chocolate flavor that you just can’t beat. The secret is that I use lots of real chocolate, as well as the cocoa powder that all recipes use. This helps give the drink a rich flavor and incredible texture.
The recipe comes together in a few minutes and only calls for a handful of simple ingredients.
What’s the difference between hot chocolate and hot cocoa?
Hot chocolate tastes richer and more indulgent than hot cocoa. That’s because hot chocolate includes real melted chocolate to flavor the milk. Whereas, hot cocoa uses only cocoa powder. This big difference here is that real chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is critical to giving chocolate its taste and texture. You can think of cocoa powder as being chocolate with the cocoa butter removed. Note that industrially produced hot chocolate powder might not actually use real chocolate. Instead it’s often made with the separate components of chocolate—dry cocoa solids and cocoa butter.
Why Is This A Single Serve Recipe?
The problem with most homemade recipes though is they make a huge batch! Sometimes you just want one perfect cup for you, or for someone in your home. So this recipe is for a single-serving hot chocolate, no leftovers.
The great thing is, if do want to make more for friends or family, the recipe is super easy to double, triple, or even quadruple. But if it’s just you and you’re craving a cozy cup of hot chocolate—this is exactly what you need!
What’s the difference between American hot chocolate and Italian hot chocolate?
The difference is the texture. Italian hot chocolate has a much thicker texture - imagine the texture of a thin chocolate pudding. You could even eat it with a spoon if you wanted. It’s perfect for dipping. Dipping cookies in Italian hot chocolate is amazing! Perfect on a cold day.
If you want to convert this recipe to a rich America hot chocolate, it’s super easy. Just leave out the cornstarch!
What kind of chocolate should I use in hot chocolate?
Emma recommends using 70% dark chocolate in her hot chocolate recipe. Use a good brand of chocolate if you can, like Lindt.
I recommend using dark chocolate with 70% cocoa solids for this recipe. Remember, you’re adding milk so you’ll get a rich milk chocolate flavor in the finished hot chocolate drink. Use the best chocolate you can. I like using Lindt chocolate for this recipe. If you want more of a “milk chocolate” feel, you can use a chocolate with 50% cocoa solids. Don’t go lower than that, though. And if you want more of a “dark chocolate” feel to the drink, use a dark chocolate with 85% cocoa solids.
Is hot chocolate made better with milk or water?
It depends what you prefer. Using whole milk will give your hot chocolate a milkier taste and creamier texture. If you’re using a packet mix, depending no the brand, it might already include milk solids. And if you’re making it from scratch, if you’re using chocolate with less than 70% cocoa solids as an ingredient, it’s also likely that too will contain milk solids. However, there’s no substitute for using whole milk if you like a rich. creamy hot chocolate.
INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp (7g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp (15g) white granulated sugar
A pinch of salt
½ tbsp (5g) cornstarch
1 cup (240ml) cold milk of your choice. (I like whole milk for this, but any kind of dairy or plant-based milk will work.)
1¾oz (50g) dark chocolate, chopped as finely as you can.
A little softly whipped cream for a topping (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Bloom the cocoa powder
In a small saucepan off the heat, add the cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and the cornstarch. Add with 2 to 3 tablespoons of the milk and stir until creamy and there are no lumps in the mixture.
Add the milk and simmer
Add the rest of the milk to the sauce pan, mixing so that the ingredients are evenly dispersed in the milk.
Now, over medium heat, bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring constantly. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil. (For the mixture to thicken, it will need to boil.) Then, as soon as it’s reached boiling point turn, off the heat.
Add the chopped up chocolate
Make sure to chop the chocolate up finely. The finer it is, the more quickly and easily it will melt into the hot chocolate.
Whisk in the finely chopped dark chocolate until all the chocolate pieces have melted. The finer you chopped it, the more quickly it will melt.
Scrape the bottom and sides of the pan to make sure everything has fully incorporated.
Serve
The finished hot chocolate, topped with softly whipped cream
Serve topped with a few spoonfuls of softly whipped cream. Eat using a spoon—the texture is like a thin pudding. The hot chocolate will thicken more as it sits.
Note: If you like your hot chocolate sweeter, you can absolutely add more sugar to taste.
Top tip: If you want to convert this recipe to an American-style hot chocolate, just leave out the cornstarch.
Watch the video for more tips
Hi! I’m Emma Fontanella. Here you’ll find trusted, tested recipes to satisfy your baking addiction and carb cravings. Learn more…
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