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Cooking @ Home: Christmas gift inspires this orange-flavored hot chocolate — perfect for when cold weather arrives
Terry’s-inspired Hot Chocolate tastes like beloved candy popular across the pond
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Happy New Year, everybody!
It’s early January, and for a lot of us, the gift-giving season has just come to a close. For me and my family, that means Christmas, and Christmas means stockings, and for the last several years, stockings have meant a Terry’s Chocolate Orange.
Traditionally, these aren’t anywhere near as popular in the United States as they are across the sea, but once my family got turned onto them, we were converts, and now everyone gets one in their stocking. Chocolate and orange are flavors that go together on a frequent basis anyway but there’s something extra magical about the chocolate orange.
Recipe
Terry’s-Inspired Hot Chocolate
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Ingredients
10 ounces milk chocolate
10 ounces dark chocolate
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups whole milk
1 pinch salt
1 orange, juiced, and zested into long strips
1/4 teaspoon orange extract
Directions
Peel the very top layer of the orange skin off as if peeling an apple. The orange zest won’t appear in the final dish so long, thick strips are fine.
Put the chocolate, milk, sugar, salt, and orange zest in a medium saucepan and heat until just warm, then allow the mixture to steep for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The chocolate will melt and the orange oil will flavor the milk.
Once the 10 minutes are up, add the juice from the orange, increase the heat, and warm until just steaming and small bubbles appear, but stop short of allowing the mixture to boil.
Remove the orange zest.
Add orange extract, stir, and sweeten to your taste with additional sugar if desired. If you like it very sweet, it could take an additional 1 1/2 tablespoons, but if you like it on the bolder side, leave it right where it is.
Serve with optional whipped cream or orange slices — but it’s delightful as-is on its own.
Source: Alex Gallegos
If you’ve never had one, there’s a very specific ritual to enjoying it. You open the box and remove the foil-wrapped ball of chocolate. Then you take it firmly in your hand and whack the whole thing as hard as you can against a table or countertop to break the little orange slices apart from each other. Unwrap the foil and the whole thing fans out into these gorgeous little chocolate pieces that instantaneously transport me back to a holiday morning surrounded by loved ones.
Ever since I had the idea of writing and publishing recipes online, I’ve wanted to capture the essence of this delectable holiday treat in a warm drink that will drive away the cold, but I’ve never been able to get it quite right. Steeping the orange peel in the hot mixture and letting the orange oils infuse the milk was the secret to that extra pop of orange flavor that was so desperately needed to make this exactly right.
Alex Gallegos is an enthusiastic home cook who enjoys trying new recipes and learning new techniques. Find this recipe and others like it at PlatefulsOfFlavors.com
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