Thick Italian hot chocolate

Image by Cleobuttera - cleobuttera.com

This is THE BEST hot chocolate you will ever drink. Well, it's more like a decadent chocolate custard in a mug (depending how thick you make it), but it's better than any San Churro or Pancake Parlour beverage I've ever tried. And believe me, I've tried and tested all the hot choccies around Melbs and beyond—they're either too diluted or not chocolatey enough. Am I being dramatic? Maybe a little but it's justified, I promise! Am I on a sugar high? 100% yes. You can customise this recipe to your liking, plonking in your favourite chocolates (lindt, tolblerone, mars, bueno etc.).

(Serves 2 - or 1 if you're a fat piglet with no self-control, like me)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole milk (can use soy milk as dairy-free alternative)

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 3-4 heaped teaspoons cornstarch (reduce if a thinner consistency is preferred, but why on EARTH would you want that?)

• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder

• 3-4 pieces of chocolates (~100 grams), broken up into pieces

Method:

1. Pour 1/4 cup of milk in a bowl and add cornstarch. Whisk thoroughly until dissolved and milk is slightly thickened.

2. Heat remaining milk in a milk-pan/saucepan on LOW heat (important! otherwise you may burn it quickly). After about 1 minute, add cornstarch mixture, sugar and cocoa.

3. Keep stirring gently and frequently—don't stop. After about 2 minutes, when the milk is starting to completely heat through, add the chocolate pieces. Stir until they're all melted.

4. Allow the hot chocolate to heat and thicken slowly. This takes a bit of patience, around 5-7 minutes of constant stirring. The longer you heat and stir it, the thicker it becomes.

5. Once you reach your desired consistency (I like mine to be thick as custard!), pour the hot chocolate into mugs and serve immediately. Enjoy with a biscuit or some churros. YUM.