Red Wine Hot Chocolate
We live out in the middle of nowhere. Like, so far out in the middle of nowhere that we heard sirens off in the distance the other day, and I tried to remember the last time I heard an ambulance and couldn't think of another time. That's the way we like it-nice and isolated.
We have next to nothing in the way of amenities near to us. We have a tiny grocery store in our town (like, smaller than most convenience stores tiny), a gas station, a couple of down-home restaurants, and one, um, rugged drinking establishment. We did get a RedBox last year, and that was kinda a huge deal.
It's all well and good, because we make regular trips to the "big city" to stock up on former city-dweller essentials like chia seeds (for my morning elixir and overnight oats) and craft beer (for drinking, duh). The long drive to Whole Foods is totally worth our blissfully private life out in the country. And, we are fortunate enough to have one really awesome city-living attraction near to us-one of the best wineries and distilleries in the area is a whopping 10 minutes from our house.
People drive for hours to get there, but we can just hop over on a random Wednesday to do some wine tasting (and we have). They also have one heck of an awesome flatbread pizza menu. It's nice to have such a high quality touch of city life out here in the country (and it's always fun watching the city-slickers who drive out here to get back to nature).
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One of our favorite things to do at the winery is head up to their tasting bar and do their distillery tasting flight. We aren't huge wine people-I don't mind a glass every now and again, but I'd much rather have a good beer or a G&T-so getting to sip on all their speciality spirits is a really fun thing for us to do.
Last time we were there, when our bartender brought out the last item in our flight-a raspberry brandy-he set out a big pile of dark chocolate chunks for us to nibble on with the brandy. He said the chocolate really made the brandy, and he was right, it was incredible! That pairing got me thinking of different ways to use chocolate and booze together in recipes. That moment right there was the origination spark for this boozy, wine-based hot chocolate recipe!
This red wine hot chocolate is gloriously rich and boozy, but still wonderfully balanced. It has enough chocolate in it so that folks who aren't big wine fans (hello, me) will still love it. It doesn't taste like wine, it just tastes like a rich, warm, fruity (and, ahem, alcoholic) hot chocolate. Of course, you can highly impact the flavor of your mug of cocoa by changing what kind of wine you use. For a sweeter, fruitier end result, use a fruit wine (like a raspberry or strawberry wine). If you want something drier, use a merlot, shiraz or cabernet sauvignon. Unlike regular hot cocoa, I don't think this hot cocktail needs any sort of garnish-no whipped cream or marshmallows here. It is gloriously rich all on its own.
I would recommend making sure to use high-quality chocolate-you can really taste the difference in simple recipes like this. My go-to chocolate chips are the Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet. I like that they are a top-shelf brand (or at least, higher shelf) that you can get at most "normal" grocery stores-well, normal if you live in a town bigger than the size of a postage stamp. Ghiradelli chips are pricier than a lot of the other brands in the store, but I think the difference is worth the money. Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Red Wine Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup semisweet chocolate chips {recommended: Ghiradelli}
- ⅔ cup dry red wine merlot, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup half and half
- 2 tablespoons sugar optional (see notes)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Combine ⅔ cup semisweet chocolate chips, ⅔ cup dry red wine, ½ cup milk, ½ cup half and half, and 2 tablespoons sugar (if using), in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate chips are melted and the mixture is hot.
- Remove from heat and stir in ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and Pinch salt. Pour into mugs and serve
Good day.
I'm new to this. In the recipe for red wine hot chocolate, you mentioned "half and half". What is half and half?
Thank you
Alfred
Hi Alfred! Thank you for your patience as our offices were closed for summer break. Half-and-half is a mix of equal parts heavy cream and whole milk. It's sold already mixed together in the States, but it's easy to make if you don't have it or can't find it. For this recipe, mix 1/4 cup of whole milk with 1/4 cup of heavy cream to make the 1/2 cup of half-and-half called for.
DELISH! If you have 2 brain cells for cooking, you can do this....not sure what the h people in the comments are doing. So rich and tasty.
It just curdled into a nightmare of a curdled mess.
Hi Arika! We're so sorry this didn't turn out for you! Nobody wants their dreamy, creamy, boozy chocolate to turn into a curdled nightmare mess! Unfortunately, we've never had that happen with any of the wines we've used in this, so we can't say for sure what's happening. We think it might have something to do with how acidic the wine you're using is. If you're up for trying it again, we'd recommend either trying a different wine or heating everything on the stove except the wine and then adding the wine off the heat. Hopefully, that will help! Let us know how it turns out if you give it another go!
Not only did the milk/half and half curdle immediately, it tasted horrible even after it was all done. There are a thousand other things to do with wine, and this is perhaps the worst.
Omg this curdled the milk as soon as I added the wine. Total fail. I used Pinot noir.
Ewwww me too. I think it’s the acidity of the wine.
This drink is kind of sensual. 🙂 I made this with almond milk, a Lindt dark chocolate bar (70%), and some Malbec red wine and I loved it. It was creamy and just rich enough. I’ll be making it again.
O M G!!! Just made this for New Year's Eve and it blew my mind!
2/3 cup of chocolate chips seems excessive for less than 2 cups of liquid.
I have made a full crock pot of hot chocolate. I used 2 cups of chocolate chips and that was extremely rich.
Hi, what is "1/2 cup half and half" thanks
1/2 cup of half and half cream. 🙂
maybe I made it wrong, but it came out a little grainy
Hello
What is this half and half?
The only half and half, that I know is the beermix of kilkenny and guinness.
Terje
More on half and half here! http://www.thekitchn.com/what-is-halfandhalf-ingredient-intelligence-205959