Slurp up cinema: recreating drinks from the silver screen
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Welcome to this fantabulous festive edition of our series ‘Gulp Fiction’ where we show you how to recreate drinks from cinema so you can slurp along with your favourite characters. It’s time for festive fun as we drink up THE POLAR EXPRESS and indulge in a luscious holiday… hot…hot…(we got it)…Hot Chocolate!
In my opinion, there is no better hot choccy than Italian hot choccy. It’s thick, luscious, decadent and oh so delicious. So today, we’re taking the Polar Express off his tracks and heading down to The Boot to enjoy this rich, pudding-like hot choc that’s more dessert than drink.
In this recipe, we use a 70% dark chocolate. Even if you’re a milk chocolate girly, trust the process. The high cocoa content will give us a rich, deep flavour and we can reduce the bitterness with the addition of sugar. Using a dark chocolate and adding our own sugar means we can control how sweet we want it. For me, this recipe is the perfect amount of sweetness, but you can always add a little more sugar if you’re already on the naughty list.
There’s one more sneaky little ingredient that you might question, and that’s salt. We can all agree that seasoned food is tasty food, and sweet treats are no exception. Salt makes everything taste better, and that includes chocolate. This small addition will enhance the flavour of the chocolate, and highlight the sweetness, whilst taking the edge off the bitterness. A Christmas miracle.
This hot chocolate is very rich and decadent so the portion sizes should be smaller than for regular hot chocolate. I didn’t read the description properly when I ordered my cups so I will be serving up in tiny espresso cups... As I hoped, they look the same as those in the movie. Just unfortunately really (reeeeaaally) small.
With these disclaimers in place, jump aboard the Polar Express and let’s get crack(er)ing- nb: remove, dreadful.
You can find the written recipe below, but if you haven’t watched the episode yet, check it out on our YouTube channel as we visually guide you through the recipe step by step.
GO TO:
HOT CHOCOLATE
Features at 14 mins & 40 seconds of The Polar Express
INGREDIENTS (serves 4)
100g Dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
2 tbsps Cocoa powder
3 tbsps Caster sugar
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
500ml Milk (+ 2 tbsps)
2tsp Corn flour
TO SERVE:
200ml Double cream (whipped)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
METHOD
Before we melt our chocolate, we want to steal a little for garnishing at the end. Scrape your knife across the back of the chocolate bar to produce shavings. Hold the knife at a 45 degree angle, apply a little pressure and pull the blade towards you scraping the back of the bar. We don’t need a lot, just eye ball 2-3 tbsps of shavings.
Put the shavings aside and chop the remaining chocolate into small pieces and mix together with the cocoa powder, sugar and salt.
Place the milk in a small saucepan, reserving 2 tbsps for later. Warm the milk on a medium-low heat until it reaches a gentle simmer. Keep a close eye on the milk and stir regularly to prevent it catching.
Once the milk reaches a gentle simmer, add in the add the chocolate/cocoa mix into the milk and stir regularly until the chocolate is melted and fully incorporated.
Make a slurry by mixing the cornflour and the reserved 2 tbsps milk. Give it a good mix and make sure it’s lump free, before adding to the pan.
Continue gently simmering, stirring frequently for 1-2 mins until thickened. Italian hot chocolate should coat the back of a spoon.
Serve in small mugs (bigger than mine) and top with whipped cream, a dusting of cocoa powder and a scattering of the chocolate shavings.
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