Disclaimer: Some links are Amazon affiliate links. Purchases made through them help support the recipe testing, photos, and content I share — thank you!
Summary
Luxurious, smooth hot cocoa that feels like a hug in a mug.
A café-style cocoa with body — thickened just enough to cling to your spoon, balanced with caramel notes from palm sugar, and finished velvety with vanilla. The cornstarch gives it that comforting “European drinking chocolate” texture without turning it into pudding.
2
5
minutes5
minutes265
kcal10
minutesLuxurious, smooth hot cocoa that feels like a hug in a mug.
Ingredients
50 g 1/4 cup water
66 g 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp palm coconut sugar, loosely packed
90 g 1/3 cup + 1 1/3 tbsp cane sugar
18 g 3 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1.3 g 1/4 tsp kosher salt
3 g 1 tsp cornstarch
293 g 1 1/4 cups whole milk
180 g 3/4 cup Heavy Cream or Evaporated Milk
4 g 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
Before We Start
Sweetener Options: If you can’t find palm (coconut) sugar, you can go pure cane sugar here as well, just replace it with a 1:1 conversion. We also tried to make this healthier by replacing the cane sugar with 150g of allulose; it works well but isn’t quite as sweet.
Milk & Cream: Heavy cream will be richer and velvety in texture. Evaporated milk adds creaminess without a lot of extra calories. If you want to indulge, go with the heavy cream, that is how we like it.Bloom the Cocoa
In a small saucepan, whisk together water, sugar, palm sugar, cocoa powder, and salt.
Heat over medium, whisking constantly, until the mixture becomes thick, smooth, and glossy — about 2 minutes. Be careful to scrape the sides of the pot to prevent the cocoa from burning.
Make Slurry
In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp of the milk with the corn starch. Whisk to incorporate until smooth.
Combine the remaining milk and cream together in a 1 qt pitcher or medium sized bowl.Add the Milk and Cream Gradually
Slowly whisk in the remaining milk and whisk to fully dissolve the chocolate paste. Add all the heavy cream and continue whisking to fully incorporate.
Heat Until Steamy
Keep whisking over medium heat for 3–5 minutes, until the cocoa is steamy. It should not boil at this point.Add the Corn Starch Slurry
Add the slurry and stir in. Let the cocoa just start to reach a boil. It will start to rise like a balloon. This is when we have achieved the thickening for the starch. Take it off the heat immediately as soon as you start to see it rising and whisk to help dissipate the aeration effect.
Finish With Vanilla
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.We Only Got One Rule, Don’t You Ever Let it Cool
Pour into mugs and serve immediately. For extra indulgence add our whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder and enjoy.
Alternatively, add marshmallows or foam the hot cocoa using an espresso milk steamer or frother.
Yes, that was a Polar Express quote.
You May Like These Recipes Too
Additional Details About This Recipe
What’s different about this version?
The cornstarch thickens it slightly, giving more body and helping the flavor linger longer on the palate. It is a more European style hot chocolate with a thicker velvety texture and lots of rich flavor without it becoming too rich that is becomes difficult to drink a full cup.
Can I skip the cornstarch?
Yes, but the result will be thinner.
Can I make it dairy-free?
It’s not the same without cream and milk. You can close your eyes and pretend you are drinking the real thing, but deep down know you have the knock-off version. If you can’t do milk and cream, replace the milk and cream with oat milk.
Can I make it darker or richer?
Add an extra tbsp of cocoa powder, it will start to burn the back of your throat at this amount though. We really pushed the limits just before it started to become too much.
Can I scale it up?
Definitely — this recipe doubles easily. For parties, transfer to a slow cooker on Warm to keep it ready to serve.
Nutritional Facts (per serving)
Values are approximate.
- Calories: ~620 kcal
- Protein: ~15 g
- Fat: ~28 g
- Carbohydrates: ~82 g
- Fiber: ~3.5 g
- Sugars: ~78 g
- Sodium: ~270 mg
- Calcium: ~560 mg