Since there’s an extra Thursday this month, I get to do a bonus recipe! At first, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make; I felt like the main menu had already covered what I considered to be the most important Three Musketeers dishes. Then I remembered the mysterious “breakfast of chocolate” d’Artagnan eats at a friend’s house midway through the book. I did a little research to figure out what it was, and the most likely candidate seems to be hot chocolate. As it turns out, people in France often have hot chocolate with their breakfast. D’Artagnan speaks about his chocolate breakfast as if it were a small, insubstantial meal, and having only a cup of hot chocolate would certainly fit that description. As such, I decided to make authentic French hot chocolate as my bonus recipe, and boy oh boy was that a good choice! The recipe I use here is a slight variation on one by Erin from Well Plated, which is a copycat version of Cafe Angelina’s famous hot chocolate. This thick, smooth hot chocolate has enough intense, rich flavor to satisfy even the most ardent chocoholic!

 

French Hot Chocolate

“As to d’Artagnan, being at bottom a prudent youth, instead of returning home, went and dined with the Gascon priest, who, at the time of the distress of the four friends, had given them a breakfast of chocolate.”
— The Three Musketeers

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 1/4-1/2 tsp espresso powder or instant coffee (I used 1/2 tsp Necafe Instant French Roast, which turned out amaaaazing!)
• 4 oz fancy dark chocolate (The quality of the the final product depends on this ingredient. I recommend splurging on a high-end brand like Godiva or Ghirardelli with at least 70% cocoa)
• whipped cream and extra chocolate, for garnish

Makes 1 large mug or 2 small coffee cups of hot chocolate

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Chop up your chocolate. A coarse chop is fine, but be aware that the more finely you chop the chocolate, the more quickly and smoothly it will incorporate into the other ingredients.
2. Whisk together the milk, cream, powdered sugar,  and instant coffee in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Keep whisking until the mix begins to steam and tiny bubbles start forming around the edges of the pan.
3. Turn off the heat and gradually whisk in the chocolate pieces until smooth.
4. Transfer to a serving cup. Top with a generous amount of whip cream, and shave your extra chocolate onto the top.
5. Serve warm as a breakfast treat for your favorite musketeers! 🙂
   
   

   French Hot Chocolate from the Three Musketeers