Welcoming the New Year calls for a celebration, and there’s no shortage of places where 2024 can be brought in with champagne and party hats.
One of the most tempting offerings is at Coppia in Chester Township, where chefs Talia Trovato and Hedy Pastran will have a 12-course tasting menu paired with wines. See coppiarestaurant.com to see the menu and learn for yourself if they’re filled for Sunday night.
But consider, instead, spending the evening at home with a small group of friends and celebrating with a festive hot chocolate bar. The suggestion and its recipe comes from Regina Charboneau, the culinary ambassador for American Queen Voyages. I made her acquaintance on a recent Lower Mississippi River cruise between New Orleans and Memphis when the cruise line debuted a collaboration with “America’s Test Kitchen” to develop dishes framed around the foods in river towns served by the cruise line. (Read those stories at bit.ly/miss-river-cruise-nh and bit.ly/cruise-recipes-nh.)
On that cruise, I received a giant 1,270-page cookbook, “America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001-2024,” where I discovered the show’s “Shopping Guide” at the end. Not only did it include knives, pans and kitchen devices but ingredients such as recommendations for brands of cocoa powder and dark chocolate. Both are key ingredients in making Regina’s Chocolate Sauce, a mainstay in creating the excellent hot chocolate for the exquisite Hot Chocolate Bar.
As any good cook knows, the quality of the ingredients used translates into the best version of any dish — and hot chocolate is no exception. “America’s Test Kitchen” recommends Droste cocoa and Ghirardelli 60% baking bar chocolate as ideal for a cocoa powder and a chocolate bar. Valrhona and Callebaut would also be good dark chocolate bar candidates to chop up for making Regina’s Chocolate Sauce.
AllRecipes.com suggests Hershey’s Cocoa as a more widely available cocoa powder. In shopping for the best chocolate bar brands, choose one with 70 percent cocoa. Reading the labels pays off.
First, make Regina’s Chocolate Sauce, which will keep well in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Charboneau, I learned on my cruise, makes a priority of joining the party, so many of her recipes, like this one, can be prepared in advance. A few minutes before serving, the cold chocolate sauce comes out of the refrigerator to be added to the milk and cream that’s been slowly heated in a pan on the stove.
Ladle the hot chocolate into glasses, some of which will have a shot of rum or another alcohol in the bottom. For the festive hot chocolate bar, guests finish off their drink with the garnishes offered in pretty dishes. Be sure to include whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
No party hats needed.
Regina’s Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup water
3 cups sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 cup finely chopped high quality dark chocolate
Instructions
Place pan over medium heat.
Add the cream, water, sugar, pinch of salt and sifted cocoa powder, whisking the whole time. Do not leave the mixture unattended — it boils over very quickly.
Add the chopped chocolate and whisk until melted.
Pour into a container and cool in the fridge without a lid. It will be runny when hot but should become thick once cooled.
To make the Hot Chocolate (serves 8):
Mix 1/1/2 quarts milk with 2 cups heavy cream in pan, stirring over low heat.
Stir in 1-½ cups Regina’s Chocolate Sauce and continue heating until hot.
Ladle into cups or pretty glasses.
Top with one or more of the garnishes.
Garnishes:
Set up in pretty bowls with spoons:
Whipped Cream
Shaved Chocolate
Marshmallows
Crushed Peppermint
White Chocolate Chips
Orange Zest or Candied Orange
Caramel Sauce
Chocolate-Covered Espresso Beans
Sprinkles
For over-21 hot chocolate:
Have individual shots in shot glasses
These are all great in hot chocolate: Kahlua, Rumcha!a, Baileys, Bourbon, Rum.
— Courtesy of Regina Charboneau, American Queen Voyages
