Sugar Savvy

I’m on the road this month, trying to make sense of the food culture on New Zealand’s North Island. Traveling can be hard on cooks–you can’t turn the stove on, you can only find dull knives, and you don’t have access to the carefully curated collection of ingredients in your own kitchen cabinet. On the other hand, your travel stories often layer themselves onto the foods that you prepare, resulting in some very meaningful recipes.

At midnight last night, in Kiwi wine country, I knew it was time for a hot chocolate. And while I had left my 400-gram block of Tava chocolate behind in Auckland (about seven hours away by bus), I did have a cardamom-infused bar made by the chocolatiers at Melbourne’s Cacao, intriguingly marked “Claypots Blend.” Claypots is a sublime Melbourne fish restaurant, with a new next-door bar that stocks (among other things) its own blend of chocolate. I also had a container of whole milk, a bottle containing a few tablespoons of fresh cream, and some resolve-weakening cinnamon bark imported from India and sold by the pioneering small business Coffee and Spice Central here in New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay. In other wine regions, in other countries, in other hemisphere’s, I’ll remember that midnight hot chocolate.

Herein is a recipe for other travelers who find themselves in the same predicament:

Midnight Hot Chocolate

1 2-3 ounce flavored chocolate bar (almost anything produced by Dagoba or Green & Black’s will do, but avoid bars with nuts or other solid pieces)
1 cup milk
1 very fresh and fragrant cinnamon stick or piece of cinnamon bark
1 tablespoon cream

Break up the chocolate bar into small pieces. Place the milk with the cinnamon in a small pot and bring the milk to a simmer. Remove from heat. Remove the cinnamon, add the chocolate, and whisk until blended. Cover and allow to steep for ten minutes. Return to heat and whisk constantly until just simmering. Remove from heat again and serve immediately.

Serves one.

This column appears on Sugar Savvy during the second and fourth week of each month. Each installment will feature a recipe, and may include tips from famous chocolatiers, ancient techniques, or contemporary innovations. Please send in your questions about hot chocolate by Email.