Warm Up with Mexican Hot Chocolate

by Dana Jacobi, for The American Institute for Cancer Research

Cinnamon is particularly fascinating because it can taste warm and sweet, aggressively pungent, or woodsy and dry. Its depth of flavor also varies from definite yet subtle in savory Middle Eastern eggplant or lamb dishes to harshly assertive in red-hot candies. This variety of use makes cinnamon quite versatile.

What accounts for cinnamon’s different personalities? In the United States, what we call cinnamon actually comes from two different plants, cassia and cinnamon. Until recently, spice companies were mainly selling cassia as cinnamon because it costs less and many Americans prefer its stronger taste. Now, though some spice companies offer both, each clearly labeled.

Cassia (Cinnamomum cassia) comes from southern China and Vietnam. You can tell cassia, even when it is ground, by its reddish brown color and intense, pungent flavor, which has an astringent edge. Sticks of cassia are hard and the bark rolls in from both sides, like a scroll.

Cinnamon (Canamomum zeylanicum) comes from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). It is pale brown, even tan in color, and has a warm, sweet flavor with citrus and clove notes. Compared to the flavor of cassia, it is drier and more subtle. True cinnamon bark is thin and rolls in a spiral.

To confuse matters, in Mexican cooking, recipes call for canela – true Ceylon cinnamon. Mexican cooks prefer canela both for its flavor and because the thinner bark can be easily pounded and ground, as it is in Mexican chocolate.

In Mexico, hot chocolate is a frothy drink hand-whipped using a wooden molinello. The actual chocolate is a gritty combination of cacao, ground almonds, canela and sugar. The drink it makes, unlike the super-intense, stimulating hot chocolate currently in fashion, is a soothing drink all at once milky, spicy and warmly chocolate.

Mexican Hot Chocolate - Makes 2 servings

Very different from the traditional cup of hot cocoa, this is milky and tastes more of cinnamon and spice than chocolate. It also has a head of froth. Because Mexican chocolate is loaded with sugar, I prefer this version. I use Chocolove Milk Chocolate, with 16 grams of sugar per ounce and a rich taste. Scharffen Berger Dark Milk is good, too. Avoid sweeter milk chocolates like Dove, Ghirardelli, Trader Joe’s and Hershey’s Milk.

2 cups low fat milk (1 percent or skim) milk
3-inch cinnamon stick, preferably Mexican canela
1 1/2 ounces (1/2 bar) good-quality milk chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch ancho chile powder, to taste

In small saucepan, heat milk with cinnamon stick over medium-low heat until milk is foamy and small bubbles rise. Cover, and steep for 10 minutes, off the heat. Remove and discard cinnamon stick.

In small bowl, combine chocolate and cocoa. Whisk in 1/4 cup hot milk until chocolate and cocoa are dissolved. Whisk chocolate mixture into remaining hot milk. Mix in vanilla and chile powder.

Pour hot chocolate into blender. Cover and whirl at medium speed until hot chocolate is frothy. Divide between two medium-size mugs and serve immediately.

Note: If doubling the recipe, use a 4-inch cinnamon stick.

Per serving made with skim milk: 220 x calories, 7.5 g total fat (4.5 g saturated fat), 26 g carbohydrate, 12 g protein, 2 g dietary fiber, 150 mg sodium.