ur_gothmom

If you haven't heard of The Velvetiser, it's a US$150 unitasker hot chocolate maker (okay, you can use it for mochas and stuff as well apparently). After learning about it from this review, I couldn't shake the desire to have one of these rich and, for lack of a better word, velvety hot chocolates. But even I, with my cupboards stuffed full of outlandish and expensive kitchen appliances, can't justify dropping nearly $300 CAD on a hot chocolate maker, not to mention their little single-serve packets of grated chocolate. I decided to see if I could replicate it much, much more cheaply.

Turns out, it's possible and easier than I could have ever anticipated.

Velvetiser helpfully tells you how much milk to use (220 ml) and how much chocolate is in one of their packets (35 g) so I stole used those measurements. I picked up a battery-powered handheld milk frother ($10 CAD) at a kitchen store at the mall, which is the only piece of gear I bought. Many people already have one, so if that's you, you're away to the races.

I wanted to go for maximum ease and speed, so instead of futzing around chopping or, god forbid, microplaning chocolate, I weighed 35 g of semisweet chocolate chips into a large mug, then poured in 220 ml of my milk of choice (I like Silk unsweetened soy, definitely pick something with creaminess here) and bunged it into the microwave. A little experimentation led me to 1.5 minutes as the right amount of time to get my milk nicely warm but not too hot for me. I am a delicate flower who can't drink beverages very hot. If you like your hot chocolate to take the roof of your mouth off, give it more time. (Microwave tip: Place your mug at the outside edge of the turntable, not in the middle, it'll heat faster and more evenly.) If you don't have a microwave, you could definitely do this on the stove, you'll just have a pot to wash at the end of this process.

Once it comes out of the microwave, just give it a mix and a foam with the milk frother (if you haven't used a big mug to give yourself enough headroom this part could get splashy). And then enjoy while fantasizing about being a fancy Victorian lady in your breakfast room drinking your cup of chocolate

Rich, velvety, truly decadent. But a bit too sweet for me, so I got in some dark chocolate chips (50%) for my second attempt, which was perfection. Obviously, if you like it sweeter you could use milk or even white chocolate (but why would you want to?), and if you want it darker you can experiment with darker chocolate (I'm planning to try some 70% bar chocolate, and have resigned myself to chopping). I'd also love to try with a salted caramel chocolate. Adding a little flavour extract like mint or almond would probably be great, or you could do a shot of liqueur (Bailey's, amaretto, Frangelico) if you want it boozy. I'm not a coffee drinker so I leave the mocha experimentation to others.

Of course, not having had a real Velvetiser hot chocolate, I can't swear that my version is just as good, and if I ever have the opportunity to try one I definitely will. But this is so good and so easy, I can't imagine I would ever want or need a Velvetiser, even if theirs comes out better. Unless you have money to burn or you're kitting out an office on the corporate card or something, I doubt most of us will get our hands on one. Now you don't need to.