IN the past few years, restaurants have been upping the hot-chocolate ante, igniting them with hot peppers, fueling them with liqueurs and making them thick as lava.
But sometimes all you crave is a simple, wholesome cup of hot cocoa – hot chocolate’s purer, healthier cousing.
That’s right, healthy. With all the flavor of chocolate, but up to 85 percent less fat, a cup of hot cocoa has the antioxidants of two glasses of red wine or three cups of black tea. Makes the prospect of a blizzard sound a whole lot better, doesn’t it?
Get a handle on these mugs:
Droste
What it is: Dutch-processed, from Holland.
Spilling the beans: Light cocoa color, faintly chocolately. Inoffensive, creamy but lacks character.
Price: $6.99 for 8.8 ounces (50 servings)
Rating: 2 mugs
Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder, Sweetened
What it is: Sweetened powder from Berkeley, Calif., chocolate house recently purchased by Hershey’s
Spilling the beans: Barely sweet with pleasantly bitter note, it’s more for adults than kids.
Price: $7.49 for 8 ounces at specialty grocers
Rating: 3 mugs
Cacao di Pernigotti
What it is: From a Piedmont, Italy, confectionery founded in 1860
Spilling the beans: Creamy and rich, a hint of vanilla gives this add-your-own sugar powder an appealing balance.
Price: $12 for 12 ounces at Williams-Sonoma
Rating: 3 mugs
Valrhona Cacao Gastronomie
What it is: 100 percent cocoa from French brand touted by many chefs
Spilling the beans: Smooth flavor and not at all bitter, but with an inexplicable suggestion of chalkiness.
Price: $10 for 8.82 ounces at Williams-Sonoma Columbus Circle
Rating: 2 mugs
French Hot Chocolate
What it is: Collector’s tin from Chapon, one of France’s biggest chocolatiers
Spilling the beans: Powdered milk in the mix makes ultra-satisfying creaminess in this flavorful, semi-sweet chocolately brew.
Price: $22 for 8.81 ounces at Williams-Sonoma
Rating: 4 mugs
Hershey’s Cocoa
What it is: The one most likely on your shelf
Spilling the beans:Nothing faint-hearted about this stalwart with assertive chocolate flavor and slightly harsh underpinning of vanilla extract specified in the recipe
Price: $3.19 for 8 ounces
Rating: 2 ½ mugs
Lake Champlain Organic Hot Chocolate
What it is: Organic alkalized cocoa powder by way of Canada and Burlington, Vt.
Spilling the beans: Well-balanced, slightly sweet, bright chocolate flavor.
Price: $6.69 for 16 ounces (21 servings) at Whole Foods.
Rating: 3 mugs
