Bouchon Bakery's Hot Chocolate

I was perusing Food & Wine's list of best hot chocolates in the U.S. the other day (because that's the type of thing I do when I should be folding the laundry or answering emails). I couldn't help but be intrigued by the mention of coriander, so I found the recipe on delish.com and here we are. I made this recipe, in spite of the fact that I had none of the very specific brands of ingredients listed and I have no idea whether my heavy cream is 40% fat (who does?). And all I can say is that it came out thick and luscious and I now understand the term drinking chocolate (which I've heard before, but until now just thought it was someone's clever way of getting me to pony up twice as much for hot cocoa mix). This is serious hot chocolate that laughs at Swiss Miss (and not just because she's dressed like a Bavarian bar maid).

Side note: You may have noticed (or maybe you haven't), that I haven't been posting much lately. I'm just really busy at work and can't find the time to clean my house, much less cook and post on my blog. I'm not apologizing (mostly because I'm not delusional enough to think anyone cares, especially if I don't). I'm just explaining, in case you were wondering. Now back to the ultra creamy hot chocolate...

 BOUCHON BAKERY'S HOT CHOCOLATE

8 ½ ounces whole milk

1 ounce 40% heavy cream

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

1 cinnamon stick

½ vanilla bean

1 tablespoon Cacao Rouge-Guittard cocoa powder

1 ½ ounces 38% Soleil d'Or Milk Chocolate-Guittard, chopped

1 ½ ounces 61% Lever du Soleil Dark Chocolate-Guittard, chopped

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1.      Bring the milk and cream to a boil.

2.      Smash the coriander seeds and toast them with the cinnamon stick in a hot pan until fragrant. Add these spices to the hot milk to steep.

3.      Scrape vanilla bean and add to the milk mixture. Stir in cocoa powder and combine well.

4.      Strain the milk mixture over the chopped milk and dark chocolate. Mix well until the chocolate is melted. Strain one more time. It's now ready to serve!

from delish.com (originally from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery)

whole coriander seeds

toasting the spices

steeping the coriander & cinnamon in the hot milk mixture

Don't be nervous, the spices are very subtle with all that chocolate!

stirring in the cocoa powder

I didn't have Cacao Rouge-Guittard cocoa powder,
so I used the best brand in my cabinet (Scharffen Berger).

I also didn't have a vanilla bean, so I used
about 1/2 teaspoon homemade vanilla extract

dark and milk chocolates

I didn't have the brands that Thomas Keller uses,
so I used Callebaut (which is a good quality chocolate).

milk mixture strained into the bowl with the chocolates

stirred and strained into my cup

Since I probably won't be posting again until after the holidays...
Merry Christmas (and possibly Happy New Year too)!

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