Frozen Hot Chocolate

I've never been to Serendipity 3, the home of original frrrozen hot chocolate (I'm not taking any liberties - they spell it with three R's). But I've heard good things, so I made this version at home. It was very quick to put together (I hadn't even planned on making it, but just happened to have all the ingredients on hand). It turned out to be the perfect treat for a way too hot summer day. It's basically a frappuccino for kids or people who don't drink coffee. As a matter of fact, it would taste great with a shot of cold espresso or maybe some booze. Yes, some booze.

SERENDIPITY’S FRRROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE

Yield: about 4 cups (2 large servings)

1/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder (a variety of the finest cocoas of your choice)

pinch of salt

1 cup milk

3 cups ice

for serving:

whipped cream (1 cup cream whipped with 1 tsp. vanilla extract + 1-2 tbsp. sugar)

chocolate shavings

1.      Mix dry milk, sugar, cocoa and salt in a small bowl.

2.      In a blender (in this order) add milk, dry cocoa mix and ice.

3.      Blend for 20-30 seconds until smooth daiquiri-like texture.

4.      Pour into a large glass; top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.
Serve with a spoon and straw.

barely adapted from CBS news (originally from Serendipity 3, NYC)

mixing together the cocoas, dry milk, sugar and salt 

Apparently Serendipity uses a secret blend of 14 cocoas
(you heard me), but since no one has that in their cabinet,
I used a combination of the 4 cocoas I was pleasantly
surprised to find in my kitchen (Scharffen Berger, Callebaut,
Ghiardelli and Valrhona - not too shabby).

milk, cocoa mixture & ice layered in the blender

blended

frozen hot chocolate

You can see in the photo up top that my whipped cream
was a little on the loose side. I also didn't bother making
chocolate shavings and just sprinkled a touch of cocoa
powder on top (really just for the photo).

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