Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!

I love chocolate! I don’t know many people who don’t, and this time of year I really love to drink hot chocolate in the mornings. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I do like to occasionally have a cup of hot tea. Yet my early morning preference is for a tall cup of hot chocolate. I just recently downloaded a recipe book called Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes and Homemade Candy Recipes by Janet McKenzie Hill. This book was written in 1908 and can be downloaded from Amazon’s Kindle ebook store (see my Amazon store below).

Here are two of the chocolate recipes that are shared in the book:

Plain Chocolate

For six people:

1 quart milk

2 ounces premium chocolate

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons hot water

Mix the cornstarch with one gill (see below) of the milk. Put the remainder of the milk on to heat in the double –boiler. Bring the milk to the boiling point. Stir in the cornstarch and cook for 10 minutes. Cut the chocolate up into fine bits, and put in a double-boiler; add the sugar and water. Stir constantly until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Add this to the hot milk, and beat the mixture with a whisk until it is frothy. Or, the chocolate may be poured back and forth from the boiler to a pitcher, holding high the vessel from which you pour. This will give a thick frock. Serve at once.

Omit the cornstarch if you prefer not to have the chocolate thick.

*gill = 1/4^th of one pint

Chocolate, Vienna Style

4 ounces Vanilla chocolate

1 quart milk

3 tablespoons hot water

1 tablespoon sugar

Cut the chocolate in fine bits. Put the milk on the stove in the double-boiler, and when it has been heated to the boiling point, melt the chocolate with the sugar and water, stirring until smooth and glossy. Stir the mixture into the hot milk, and beat well with a whisk. Serve at once, putting a tablespoon of whipped cream in each cup and then filling up with the chocolate.

Plain chocolate may be used instead of vanilla. If you use plain chocolate instead of vanilla chocolate, add a teaspoonful of vanilla extract and three generous tablespoons of sugar instead of one.

Original directions:

Both recipes recommend placing the chocolate, sugar, and water in a small iron or granite-ware pan and stirring over a hot fire until smooth and glossy. Since we no longer cook over hot fire (unless camping) I left out these directions. I also do not recommend melting the chocolate in a small iron or granite-ware pan, but instead I recommend using a double-boiler to melt the chocolate. There is less chance of the chocolate burning than melting it directly over the heating element whether electric or gas. If you don’t have a double boiler, you can easily make one using a glass mixing bowl and a 2-quart sauce pan.