Warm Up with a Brancamenta Hot Chocolate
It's Boozy Hot Chocolate Weather
It’s Boozy Hot Chocolate Weather
I don’t recall if it was a passing comment on Instagram or a mention in her incredibly popular newsletter, but it was probably a few years ago when a very famous bestselling cookbook author threw some shade concerning grown men who order hot chocolate instead of coffee. Reader, I felt seen, and a bit stung.
I often think of that pointed hot take/ick/red flag of hers whenever I order a hot chocolate, which happens at least a couple times each week this time of year, starting around late October through February. I’m not a complete savage. I mix it up with my usual lineup of double-espressos, cortados, and cappuccinos, but sitting on a bench out in the elements while clutching a hot chocolate brings me… if not joy, comfort.
I’m pretty pedestrian in my hot chocolate tastes. Those thick and rich “drinking chocolate” affairs aren’t what I’m seeking (though RIP to City Bakery’s Annual Hot Chocolate Festival). Whether it’s Starbucks or Dunkin’ my order is for an “extra hot hot chocolate, no whipped cream” because more often than not most hot chocolates turn out to be decidedly tepid chocolates. (The “extra hot hot…” move is always awkward to say and usually requires some clarification.)
My local Daily Provisions outpost has a very nice, and very expensive ($8.00!), hot chocolate on offer this winter, but getting it to the proper temperature has never been successful and the “no whip” request sparks a host of food allergy questions concerning dairy. (The last one I ordered there had an errant hole in the bottom of the cup which took me more time than it should have to notice before it dribbled on my crisp white Air Max 1s. The team was very responsive and helpful remedying the situation.)
Over the holiday break I spent a lot of time at Mazzola Bakery in Carroll Gardens and if you ask for it “extra hot” they deliver. It’s a classic bag of hot cocoa mix made with milk and it’s so hot it takes me at least a half hour posting up on their bench to really get into it (also because their medium cup is huge). I would have that with a center square cut of their crumb cake, a classic confection of yellow-cake topped with an inch-thick strata of cinnamon-brown-sugar crumble. Sadly, the crumb cake is now on sabbatical but promised to be back soon and the other day they were also out of hot chocolate.
So, despite what the girly pops think, I will continue to drink hot chocolate when it’s cold outside and not even resort to manning up with spiked hot chocolate, which is today’s featured recipe.