how to make HOT CHOCOLATE ON A STICK
If you’re new here, welcome! I’m AmberLee, and Giverslog is my place to collect gift ideas and pretty wrapping ideas from talented friends and bloggers (plus I throw in a few ideas of my own).
NOTE: If you blog this recipe, I’ll be thrilled and flattered. In fact, I kept this recipe as bare bones as possible in hopes you’d play with different flavors, molds, and sticks. If you do blog, would you link back to me here? (Like this and this kind review, thank you!) I will so appreciate it. Feel free to use a picture or two, but please don’t repost all the pictures or post the recipe without my written permission. It’s taken a few years of researching and practicing with chocolate (certainly not an unpleasant thing) and some days of a very messy kitchen (but a happy family) to provide you with this recipe and with good advice about chocolate.
Oh how I love when the weather turns cold enough for hot chocolate. Something about a good cup of hot chocolate makes the world feel like a gentler place.
This idea is something I’ve been wanting to try for a couple winters now. I’m glad I finally took the time to puzzle it through and do a little taste testing, because it turned out to be so simple, and the results so delightful. Stir one of these sticks into a cup of steaming milk or cream and in two minutes you will have transformed it into a cup of rich hot chocolate, the blessed stuff. I can’t help feel that the act of stirring adds to the experience, soothing you over while building up the anticipation for that first sip.
First things first: what chocolate to buy (see a whole post dedicated to this here)
The trick to making the best hot chocolate on a stick is using good, serious chocolate that melts easily. A chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter will do that. More cocoa butter means quicker melting. A bag of every-day chocolate chips won’t melt as fast. In fact, chocolate chips are formulated not to melt as fast, so they hold shape in your yummy cookies. You can also find fake chocolate (like a bag of Wilton’s candy melts), which uses vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter. It will melt well, but the resulting cup of hot chocolate won’t be as transcendent. And we’re going for transcendent here. The candy melts are great for coating the outside if you like, because they stay pretty and shiny even if you don’t melt them just right.
If you really want to go gourmet, use couverture (made for dipping truffles, which has up to 39% cocoa butter, such as this
Word of warning: no water!
There is one thing you need to know before working with chocolate if you don’t already: never let water or alcohol touch it. Not a drop. You can be stirring a potful of smooth, decadent melted chocolate, then get one drop of water in it and the whole thing will get grainy and seize up. It’s a sad experience. (If this happens to you, try Tiffany’s tip below. Or use the chocolate for a recipe like brownies or ganache that uses chocolate and liquids).
So then, if you’re planning to introduce vanilla, use a vanilla bean or vanilla paste, not vanilla extract. If you want to add food coloring, use a gel or powdered form, not the liquid stuff.
Hot Chocolate on a Stick
Yield: 10 cubes of hot chocolate (ice-cube-tray size)
(use 1 oz. hot chocolate on a stick per every 1 cup milk or cream)
Equipment:
Ziplock bags or piping bags
A double boiler or pan with a glass bowl that can sit over the simmering water
Some kind of chocolate mold, ice trays work great
Stir sticks or a bag of wooden craft sticks like I used (like these,
Ingredients:
8 oz. chocolate (see note above), bittersweet, semisweet, milk, and white chocolate all work
*1/4 cup cocoa, sifted
*1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
*You can replace these with 8 servings of your favorite homemade hot chocolate mix, or add your own touch, I have a few special ingredients I like to add. If you take me out to lunch sometime maybe I’ll share.
6 cups milk and 2 cups heavy cream if you plan to enjoy these right away
Method
(read a whole post about melting chocolate, including how to melt in the microwave, here)
- If your chocolate is in a block, chop it into even-sized meltable pieces. Simmer a couple inches of water in a pan, then turn down the heat so the water is below a simmer. I like to remove the pan from the heat, but if you keep it on, keep that water below a simmer. Place glass or stainless steel bowl over the top to make a double boiler. If the bowl touches the water it’s alright, as long as your water is mildly warm, not hot. Dump chocolate into the clean, dry bowl and stir as the chocolate melts. (If you are patient and let those chunks melt slowly, keeping them from getting over 90 degrees F or 88 degrees F for milk and white chocolate, the chocolate will stay “in temper” and will still be nice and pretty when it cools.)
- Once the chocolate is 2/3 melted, with just some pieces of the chocolate unmelted, remove the bowl from the pan, dry the bottom with a towel and continue stirring until chocolate is fully melted. This is just one more step to keep the chocolate from getting too hot.
- Add cocoa, sugar, and salt and continue to stir until combined. The chocolate will be thicker, as thick as frosting, but stir on. If it looks and feels grainy it’s possible you’ve accidentally gotten a drop of water in the mixture. If it has gotten water in it and has seized up, it will still taste alright, it just won’t be as pretty or smooth or melt quite as fast.
- Scoop chocolate into a ziplock bag and clip off the corner.
- Pipe the chocolate into your chocolate mold, tapping the mold on the counter to make sure all the chocolate settles into the mold. Add a stir stick and you’re done. The stir stick should stay upright without any trouble. If the chocolate bursts through the bag in places you don’t want it to, just put the whole thing in another bag. If the chocolate starts to get too thick to squeeze, just put the whole thing in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds or so at half power.
- Let the chocolate cool either at room temperature or in the fridge if you’re in a hurry. I find the chocolate pops out of the mold nicely if it’s been in the fridge. It’s okay to cool chocolate in the fridge, just don’t store it there, because chocolate soaks up the odors of other foods pretty quickly.
- If you don’t like the look of the chocolate once it is removed from the mold, you can dip the cubes into a new batch of plain melted chocolate for a shinier finish (again, try to keep chocolate from heating over 90 degrees, or use candy melts, which don’t need to be in temper, they will stay shiny and pretty even if you go above 90 degrees). This also lets you add sprinkles or crushed candy or just lets you dip in fun patterns. I like dipping at an angle into a different color of chocolate.
- In order to enjoy these, heat up any combo of milk, water, half and half, or cream. I like 6 cups milk with 2 cups heavy cream. One ounce of chocolate on a stick should be melted into one cup milk or cream. So a standard ice cube-tray block, which is 3/4 an ounce, should be melted into a mug with 3/4 cup milk or cream in it.
Troubleshooting: A few of you have had trouble with your chocolate seizing. Tiffany provided this great note to help out (thanks, Tiffany!), “if the chocolate begins to seize (since for some reason, both of my batches seized, I’m thinking it’s the humidity in the air where I am) you do not have to throw it out. Just put the bowl back over the hot water and add a little bit of vegetable oil (I used somewhere between a tsp and a tbsp) after stirring over a little heat, the chocolate will get smooth again. Also good to note, chocolate can seize if you add any cold ingredients.”
How to store it: Dark chocolate will keep in an airtight container for up to a year, milk and white chocolate for several months. Remember, don’t keep it in the fridge because it is really good at absorbing odors.
Variations: Try adding a pinch of your favorite spice. We tried adding a little extra punch by lining the outside with red hots. Very fun. You can also leave out the cocoa and sugar all together and replace it with 8 servings of your favorite packaged hot cocoa. Have you ever had so much fun? I love playing with chocolate.
As you can see, we played around with a few different molds, like this water bottle ice cube mold from IKEA. The classic ice cube mold was my favorite though. It works best for submersing the entire block of meltable chocolate in a standard mug.
UPDATE: Love Prince Pi’s suggestion of molding these in shot glasses. Also love how the Kitchn (yea!! they tried my recipe!!) made do with a single pan. TinaMarie also made the great suggestion of using small Dixie cups. And finally, check out this beautiful version Sprinkebakes made using a chocolate transfer sheet and birch spoons. You will love it.
This was fun too. My son thought the resulting blocks looked like the shape of strawberries.
Hope your weekend is great. And happy melting!
Tags: care package gift ideas, cheer-up gifts, DIY gifts by GiversLog, DIY handmade gifts, DIY homemade wedding favors, gifts for neighbors, gifts for someone away from home, gifts for teachers, gifts from the kitchen, gifts of candy or food, good food for simple entertaining, green gifts, hostess gifts, inexpensive gift ideas, just because gifts, party favor ideas, stocking stuffer gifts, thank you gifts, wedding favors
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:28 am
This looks yummilicious.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:57 am
Wow. You are so creative, Amber. This is an excellent idea. I kept looking at the first picture and trying to figure out how you did it before I read through the post. I didn’t even come close! They look like chocolate covered marshmallows!
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 am
Oh this post is going to make me gain more holiday weight..what a fun idea..thanks for sharing all your fun..
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 am
can i just say this: i love you. you are my favorite.
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:33 am
This is absolutely brilliant.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Can anyone think of a way to make a recipe that you can use with a cup of boiling water rather than hot milk?
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm
It is so wonderful! I’ll echo the above sentiment: you are a genius!
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
you are too much! so martha stewart. thanks for taking the time to photograph + share this with us.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Your pictures are gorgeous. I love your idea too! It’s so pretty to look at !
October 24th, 2009 at 6:25 am
This is the greatest idea! wait until I show my mom!
October 24th, 2009 at 7:46 am
I love this!!!! So creative, simple, and would make for such a lovely gift across the board! You are truly wonderful for sharing these. Much thanks!
October 24th, 2009 at 9:38 am
If your chocolate seizes, add some shortening or butter.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:57 am
You are killing me with this idea. You know that to buy some of those it would cost a fortune at Crate and Barrel of something. These are the best!
October 24th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Obviously, this is a great idea for holiday gift giving. (The frother is genius!)
But… I am apparently a little dim. Explain the white ones with the dark outer coating, please? Those were made with white chocolate and no cocoa? Malt powder or exactly what, please?
October 24th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Those looks so charming! Do you suppose you could use pretzel rods or cookie sticks instead of the craft sticks? I love the idea of a salty pretzel bite with the chocolate.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Hi Marti,
Great question. With the pure white ones, I tried using just pure white chocolate with vanilla bean seeds, but it flavors only half a cup of milk instead of a whole cup because it has no cocoa. I want to try making a batch of pure white-chocolate ones by replacing the sugar and cocoa with french vanilla hot cocoa mix like this one.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Thanks, Sam! I’ll try this.
October 25th, 2009 at 1:24 am
This is absloutly fantastic!! it has a homemade feel to it yet very chic! .. I’d love this for favors too! with cylo wrapped and a nice ribbon!
I’m so happy to see your blog!! this is one of the best blogs i’ve ever seen in my whole blogging life :)
October 25th, 2009 at 3:45 am
This is amazing.
I tried making some today, and they turned out great! I put them in shot glasses, and they became adorable bell like shapes.
After I made a batch, I thought they turned out so great that I wanted to make more. But I had no more 70 % coca chocolate, so I tried making a batch with Toblerone. I dont think that went too well, but we’ll see.
Thank you so much for this!
October 25th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
OMG!!! I am no Martha Stewart but this “Chocolate on a stick” was awesome to make! I am not a big fan of chocolate, but this was really yummy… my 8-year-old had some girlfriends over who help a little bit… and took some home.. Now I look like I know what I am doing!! Thanks so much!!
October 25th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
What wonderful ideas! Thanks :)
October 26th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
I am interested in making the chocolate sticks in the top 2 pictures. What mold was used and the chocolate type? I’m so excited these look fantastic! Cant wait to hear the how-to!
October 26th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
oh my. this is wonderful!!
October 26th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Hi Lane,
Here is a link to the IKEA ice tray I used:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60146194
The other was just a standard ice cube tray.
In the picture I used white chocolate (with the dutch cocoa and sugar mixed in) as well as semmi-sweet chocolate. Both were Guittard brand. yum.
Good luck!
Amber
October 29th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
[...] Can you imagine anything more amazing than hot chocolate on a stick? [...]
October 29th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
As always, you’re simply amazing :)
October 29th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
These are absolutely incredible! What a great gift to give. I love them.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
We always do a handmade Christmas but I like to think of things that are out of the ordinary. And coming from me, my friends & family will expect something to do with chocolate. These fit the bill perfectly! Thank you tons and bunches!! Now to think of some cool packaging…
October 31st, 2009 at 9:34 am
What a fabulous idea! I love, love, love it. I think I’ll make some for the kids in the family at thanksgiving-they’ll love stirring up their own hot chocolate. Thanks for the terrific post.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Great idea! I’m going to make a bunch and give them out as gifts for Christmas.
What is the mold you’re using for the last picture, are those egg shells? How does that work?
November 5th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Hi Nicole,
I’m glad you like it! Yes, the mold in the last picture was egg shells. We were experimenting and wanted to try everything. It worked, but was a pain to get the shell off, and the round shape didn’t melt very well once it was stirred in. I think next time I’m going to do what one of my readers suggested and try shot glasses. Though the ice cubes worked great too.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Cool website, I’ll bookmark it
November 17th, 2009 at 11:38 am
I am going to make these with peppermint sticks! Think that will work okay?
November 17th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Hi Christine,
Yes. I think making them with peppermint sticks will turn out great. Yumm. And good luck!
November 17th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
You’re brilliant. GREAT gift idea! And for me…
November 17th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Great idea Amber, I can’t wait to make these! Question, between steps 2 & 3 are we supposed to put the bowl back on the double broiler? Also in step 4, do you put the chocolate into the piping bag/ziplock right away? I haven’t worked w/ chocolate, but it seems like it would be extremely hot especially for a ziplock bag? Please advise thanks!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
@Summer
Chocolate melts at body temperature-ish. Which is why it’s so creamy and delicious in your mouth. So to melt, it only gets to 50 degrees C or so, which is perfectly safe for a ziplock. It can be mildly uncomfortable if you get it on you, but nothing that you can’t handle.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Dylan–love the explanation. It never occurred to me that chocolate has the perfect melting temperature.
Summer–I think you’ll find working with chocolate is easier than you think. You should be fine stirring in the cocoa with the bowl on or off the pan of boiling water. Either way. Once I take mine off I just leave it off. And Dylan is right, you should be fine adding the chocolate right to the ziplock. I did. But if it were another type of candy, like caramel, you’d be right about it being too hot. The ziplock bag wouldn’t stand a chance.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Hello! I’m planning a hot chocolate bar for my wedding and a friend sent me this link to your site. What a wonderful idea! I will certainly give them a try. It might make things a lot simpler for guests, not to mention cute and unique.
I was wondering how you keep the stick handles sticking straight out of the pops – I’m concerned about them falling over to the side or falling out altogether.
Thank you!
November 18th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Hi Sarah,
Congrats on your wedding! You shouldn’t have any problems with the sticks. I thought I would have to take extra steps to get the sticks to stay straight up, like putting foil over the mold or something, but I was happily surprised to find that when I stuck the sticks into the chocolate, they stayed exactly as I put them. Even in something as shallow as an ice tray. It was nice and easy.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Perfect! I can’t wait to try it. Thanks!
November 18th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Thanks so much for posting this! I’ve been wanting to learn to make these for a while!
November 19th, 2009 at 10:36 am
I have been waiting a few days to make these after seeing. them here…….just made them with my 5 year old daughter and the chocolate was like glue! We made a big old mess as the top of the ziplock bag opened. Frankly it was a disaster, but we had fun. Will try to make them again.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
I made these today with the six-year-old I take care of, as party favors for her birthday next week. We used Hershey’s chocolate chips, which in retrospect were probably a bed idea, but we also used some really cute candy molds from Michael’s! I’m not sure if they’ll end up working, but at least we had fun!
November 19th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I noticed that you also seem to have used chocolate wafers. :) I would love to make these and am wondering if you had a recommended brand to use?
Thanks!
Melanie
November 19th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Hi Melanie,
I usually like to use Guittard but I know there are other favorites out there too. I came across this list and really found it helpful:
http://www.thenibble.com/REVIEWS/main/chocolate/couverture-chocolate2.asp
I’ve also just gone to restaurant supply stores and asked them to steer me towards their best fondu or chocolate-fountain chocolate.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Thanks for pointing towards Guittard. I happened to be in the market today and saw some Guittard wafers and impulsively bought some … the 58% dark. I just ate one and it’s delicious so I hope it shall make delicious presents for everyone this Christmas!
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:49 pm
I tried this today and it was delicious. I made it in a mini muffin tin but then I had a hard time unmolding the chocolate. Is it easier to umold when they’re in ice cube trays? Any tips?
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:50 am
Hi GL,
I’m so disappointed that the mini muffin trays were hard to unmold because that is such a fantastic idea for a mold shape. Yes, the ice trays were super easy to unmold. I was really nervous the first time I tried it, but I just gave them a twist and the chocolate cubes popped right out. If you find a trick to get them out of a mini muffin mold, though, I’d love to hear.
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Gave this a go over the weekend. Used Guitard chocolate and Dagoba cocoa powder. I think my next ones will turn out a little less messy looking. The part I had a hard time with was that I could only get 8 cubes from the recipe versus 10. I made 3 batches and could only end up with 22 cubes. Do pastry bags work better? I felt a lot was lost to the ziplock even though I tapered it.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I tried these the other day in the heart shaped version of the IKEA ice cube trays you used and they turned out well. I think mini muffin trays will work if you have a silicon one. Being able to bend and sort of peel the tray off of the chocolate helps a lot. I’ve used silicon muffin pans for fudge and they’ve worked beautifully. I didn’t use a pastry bag at all, just a couple of spoons. It worked because I kept the chocolate over the heat until I got it all out of the bowl.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
These look fantastic–I’m going to try them as goodies for my friends for xmas!
I just want to clarify–when you say “cocoa butter of 70%” do you mean cocoa content? Like how the nice Lindt chocolate bars advertise their percentage on the front (like the 70% cacao bar on this page: http://www.lindt.com/ca/swf/eng/products/bars/)? Or is your referral to cocoa butter something different? How can I tell whether my chocolate is good enough?
I’ve not worked with chocolate much before so I want to make sure I do this right! You also mention tempering the chocolate… is that step covered in your instructions here, or is it something separate?
Also, how many ice cubes does your recipe yield?
Thanks!
November 25th, 2009 at 12:28 am
Hi Ginger,
So glad you commented, because I thought I had taken out the reference to “70% cocoa butter” everywhere in my post. I now have it fixed. (I thought I’d done my chocolate homework before posting, but was a tad mixed up) Let me clarify:
-The higher the percentage of cocoa butter, the more easily the chocolate will melt. The highest percentage of cocoa butter I’ve seen in any chocolate is 40%.
-Usually, chocolate with a high cocoa butter content is called couverture chocolate. Couverture is what professional pastry chefs and candy makers use for anything they dip in chocolate. So when you shop you can look for couverture chocolate.
-Besides couverture, a good chocolate baking bar will work. And so will a good quality chocolate bar, like the one you mentioned. I’ve also looked for real chocolate that is meant for fondu or chocolate fountains because it will melt easily too. You’ll know it’s real chocolate because it will be called chocolate instead of “candy melts.” (For now that is true, the FDA is considering changing the definition of chocolate. Hopefully they won’t.)
-As I’m sure you know, you’ll get a stronger chocolate flavor if you use dark chocolate, which sometimes has up to 70% cocoa (this refers to cocoa butter and cocoa solids). But you can also use milk chocolate or white chocolate, whatever sounds good to you. (Good white chocolate will be made from cocoa butter instead of from vegetable fats.)
-I think the trick is finding the right balance between how much you’re willing to pay and how good of chocolate you want.
Following are some dark chocolate baking bars recommended by Cook’s Illustrated:
Callebaut
Ghirardelli
Dagoba
Michel Cluizel
Valrhona
And here are some brands of couverture listed by Wikipedia:
Valrhona
Felchlin
Lindt & Sprüngli
Scharffen Berger
Cacao Barry
Callebaut
Guittard
I also found this link helpful:
http://www.thenibble.com/REVIEWS/main/chocolate/couverture-chocolate2.asp
And when I made this recipe in a standard ice cube tray, it yielded 10 cubes of chocolate. Though I know other readers have said they got only eight.
About tempering chocolate, incase you really want to know. Tempering chocolate is a more complex way of melting chocolate. You melt it to a certain temperature, cool it to another temerature, then heat it again to another temperature (you need a specialized thermometer to do it). It builds up the chocolate molecules so the chocolate snaps better and is shiner and prettier. I wouldn’t bother with it when you’re starting. Seriously. I melted chocolate happily for years before I ever even knew anything about tempering chocolate and made my family and friends many yummy pretty treats that made them very happy. Maybe I’ll cover tempering some day when I get really brave.
Just melt the chocolate and have fun. I think once you find out how easy it is to play with chocolate you’ll be hooked. Good luck!
November 30th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Your photographs are so beautiful. I can’t wait to spend some time gazing through your site!
November 30th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Eureka! I’m so excited to try these. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
December 1st, 2009 at 4:57 am
Thank you for this wonderful and fun gift idea!
December 1st, 2009 at 7:43 am
These would make a great gift paired with home made marshmallows!
December 1st, 2009 at 11:13 am
AMAZING! I can not wait to go home and give this a try!
December 1st, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I saw these and I HAD to try them, my husband LOVES hot chocolate! So I made up a batch today, and I’m not sure if I did it right. In step 4, the directions say to POUR the chocolate into a ziploc, my chocolate wasn’t pour-able. it looked more like cookie dough/play-doh. So, I scooped it into the bag, but it wasn’t squeezable, so I scooped it into my cups (I’m using the 3 oz “bathroom cups” which are 2x a shot glass, so I’m doing 1/2 of the cups.) There wasn’t any pouring involved. Did I do this right, or did I mess up? Please help!! Thanks
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Hi Bry,
Sorry it’s taken me a while to respond to your comment. I’ve been wanting to test the recipe on a couple other kinds of chocolate and see if there was a noticeable difference, but it’s been a little crazy so I thought I’d better respond to you now. My final recipe was definitely squeezable, though certainly not as pourable as regular melted chocolate. It was somewhere between pourable and scoopable. Is is possible any liquid got in your batch? I’m curious to know if they worked once you tried stirring them into the hot milk. I’m trying to think of anything else that could have gone wrong. Maybe the chocolate is the difference? I know that I used to do all my chocolate dipping with melted chocolate chips before I knew better, and the difference between that and meltable chocolate was really noticeable. I hope it works out for you. We have to keep the chocolate lovers happy! (my husband loves hot chocolate too)
December 5th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I made this and LOVED it! I reviewed it on my website with a link to your blog. Thanks for such a great recipe!
December 5th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Hey if your chocolate seizes you can just add more warm water (according to Joe Pastry, I haven’t tried it myself)
http://joepastry.com/index.php?cat=166
December 5th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
[...] HOT CHOCOLATE ON A STICK recipe | giverslog.com (tags: chocolate recipes gifts food recipe dessert) [...]
December 5th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I’m looking forward to trying to make these. One question – have you tried using the microwave to melt the chocolate? I have been using the microwave to melt chocolate from all my old families recipes that call for a double boiler and so far have had no problems. Thanks for a beautifully presented gift idea!
December 6th, 2009 at 6:52 am
I love this idea and I’m planning to give them as Christmas presents this year to our friends and the childrens Teachers, along with some home-made biscuits.
Has anyone got a good packaging idea? I have visions of them melting in anything I package them in and I really don’t want them to spoil, since they’re so beautiful….
December 6th, 2009 at 10:16 am
After I stir in the cocoa powder, salt and powdered sugar, it was really thick. Is this right? Molded it anyway, but haven’t taken them out yet. Bet they still taste yummy!!
December 6th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Hi Annie,
The microwave should work just fine, as long as you melt it in a bowl. If you try melting in the ziplock bag it’s hard to incorporate the sugar and cocoa (I know, I tried.) Thanks for the comment, and good luck!
December 6th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Hi Laura,
Thanks for the comment! Yes, once you stir in the cocoa, sugar, and salt it gets quite a bit thicker. It’s a little like chocolate frosting. But it should still be shiny and smooth, if it’s gets too thick and unstirrable, it’s possible a drop of water got in the chocolate (but even if it seizes up from a drop of water it still tastes pretty good!) I think I’ll add this to the original tutorial. Thanks for the feedback!
December 6th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
These look amazing! I can’t wait to make these. These are so original and classy looking. I had no idea that Ikea made water bottle ice cube trays! You are so creative. Thanks for sharing and can’t wait to see all of your packaging ideas for the holidays!
December 7th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
I love this idea so much that I’m featuring it on my blog tomorrow. Thank you!
December 8th, 2009 at 8:32 am
[...] Hot Chocolate on a Stick. (Via Givers Log.) I’m in love with this idea. It’s a gift that the whole family can appreciate, and the possibilities for decorating them are endless. I love the idea of tying them together about halfway down the stick and making them look like a bouquet. [...]
December 8th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Hi Quick question,
when redipping them in chocolate after they have hardened where did you put them, back in the ice-cube tray?
December 8th, 2009 at 11:58 am
These look amazing ! But how did you get the dark and white chocolate to stay separate? Did you let one cool then pour in the other or are they dipped in the dark chocolate
December 8th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Hi Liz,
Thanks for the comment! I put these in a cup to cool once I dipped them (stick side down, like flowers in a vase). I’ve also seen people use an empty egg carton for cooling chocolate-dipped things, which seems like it may work for these (Just push the stick right through the egg carton).
December 8th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Hi Kattfriz,
So glad you like them! I got the two colors by dipping them once they’d cooled. Good luck!
December 9th, 2009 at 9:11 am
They stirred just fine. I used the Almond Bark baking chocolate, that could be the difference. (My mom has used that for all her dips and melting things, so I figured it was ok.) I’m going to try it again this week and see. The hot chocolate tasted great, it stirred in fine, it just didn’t look right when I put it to the cups. Maybe I didn’t stir enough when I put in the cocoa powder and powdered sugar.
Oh, and I have been putting mine on a Spoon, I just stick the Spoon into the mixture before I cool it.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I just made a bunch of these for friends!! As a broke college student, these made great gifts for a bunch of friends. before placing the sticks in the trays, i threaded christmas themed marshmallows on them. On others, after they hardened, I dipped them in melted chocolate and crushed candy canes. These are such a great idea, thank you!!!
December 9th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
[...] Recipe & More [...]
December 9th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I agree with Amberlee that when you add the dry ingredients, it get thick like chocolate frosting and it is shiny. I used nonstick mini-muffin pans and I was able to make 7 pops. When the chocolate was set up, I put it in the freezer for about 2 to 3 mins. I pushed my thumb on the bottom of each “muffin” until I heard a “pop”, then I was able to remove each pop by the stick.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I made these for my coworkers the other day and they loved them! But I noticed that the chocolate didn’t seem to thoroughly melt in the hot/warm milk…it looks a little grainy. It tasted fine, but looks kinda weird. I don’t know if its the temperature of the milk or the fact that the sticks just came out of the fridge. Anyone else experiencing this?
December 9th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Disregard my previous question….I walked away from my desk for a few minutes and when I came back the grainyness had become less noticable. I think it is b/c the chocolate had come from the fridge and was taking longer to fully melt.
December 9th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I’m really excited to try making these for my friends, but I was wondering if it was necessary to grease or spray the ice cube trays first?
December 10th, 2009 at 9:06 am
[...] Chocolate on a Stick Posted by Amy on December 10th, 2009 I saw this recipe and really had to try it. But I definitely did not need all this chocolate lying around to consume. [...]
December 10th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Hi Danielle,
Thanks for stopping by. No, I had no trouble popping these right out as soon as they were cooled with no greasing. Good luck!
December 10th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
[...] hot chocolate on a stick from Giver’s Log – she has a step by step process that makes it look easy! [...]
December 11th, 2009 at 10:25 am
These are amazing! My sister always points out the chocolate-covered spoons at the candy store in town. Maybe I’ll try making these for her!
[I was linked to your blog from Gala Darling's site. I'm so glad she did, your entire blog is incredible!]
Much love, and happy holidays!
Kuri <3.
December 11th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Please help!
I made these a few days ago in prep for the holidays…..Lindt chocolate melted down, mixed in sugar and cocoa & salt as a recipe called for, mold, stick, solidify and wrap…..
They look dried and old…..has anyone else ever made these and had this problem? I have about 30 of them…and they all look spotted, dried out……What has happened to them? Any ideas?
December 12th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Hi Aej6
The spots are called fat bloom, and they won’t affect the taste, but they’re not pretty, I know. (it means the cocoa crystals didn’t build up just right, i figured explaining this was too much for this post, i’ll try to do a post on it very soon) Can you get a little more chocolate? If you get more of that good Lindt chocolate, chop it up and melt it and don’t let it get over 90 degrees (just barely melt it), the cocoa crystals should stay “tempered.” Dip the sticks in them to cover them with the pretty, new chocolate, and hopfully you will be set. Or, if you use wilton’s candy wafers it has no way of getting out of temper. They use vegetable fats and don’t even have cocoa butter in them. So you could melt a few of those and use them just for the outside coat. The candy wafers (that look like chocolate but aren’t actual real chocolate) are easier to use than chocolate, they, of course, just don’t taste as good–they’re kind of waxy tasting.
December 12th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I absolutely LOVE this idea! I just featured it in a post on my blog about DIY hostess gifts. I saw these for sale at a local shop and I wanted to make them myself but I wasn’t sure where to start. So thanks for the recipe!
http://mrspottsthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/12/hostess-gifts.html
December 12th, 2009 at 11:40 am
So glad I stumbled across your site. I was struggling with the idea of teacher gifts this year, and this just seems absolutely perfect. Can’t wait to make them. If all goes well I think I’ll make a bunch for everyone I know!
December 12th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Headed over here from “Something to do”. Great idea! Heading to check out the rest of your blog!
December 12th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
These are so lovely and brilliant, and like the rest, I can’t wait to make these myself! Thanks for posting it up! :)
December 13th, 2009 at 12:05 am
forgive me if someone already said this, I lost my focus before reading all the comments :P
But, the idea of using pretzel rods or cookie sticks made me think… candy canes? Sounds great to me. I love peppermint in my hot cocoa, I usually make a batch of homemade peppermint marshmallows to float in it. Yum!
December 13th, 2009 at 12:40 am
I made these today to put into holiday gift baskets and I made a mini one for me to try it, and all I can say is YUM! It’s the best hot chocolate ever and I think it would make a great little gift wrapped up with some raspberry marshmallows. I’m looking forward to experimenting with the different ingredients. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
December 13th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Tried your recipe last night with mixed outcomes! When I added the cocoa and powdered sugar, it really got thick, but I believe I made a mistake and added too much dry ingredients–I couldn’t remember whether to sift then measure, or measure then sift. I measured, then sifted, which is what I think my problem was.
Anywhoo, they hardened up beautifully even though I popped the ziploc bag because the chocolate was so fudgy thick! Interestingly, the first ones I piped look gorgeous and glossy, and the last ones have that “untempered” look, which will be fixed by dipping is some white chocolate. So for those of you that think you’ve had a chocolate disaster, press on, it might just turn out fine!
I taste tested them today, and though the first sip is sublime, a bitter aftertaste crept into my mouth. I used the Ghirardelli semisweet + bittersweet — is this my issue? I’m a milk chocolate girl, so is that touch of bitterness par for the course? Or should I spring for some expensive cocoa powder? I have the Trader Joe’s organic. Any suggestions appreciated!
December 13th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
YUM!!!! I tried these, but I had a 2 year old helping me, so it was a bit more difficult, and I had to rush to get them into the molds. Messy, but I am still going to post about it if it is ok with you.
I also had an idea, but I need to get some of those waterbottle molds from IKEA. What if you used a peppermint stick in one of those instead of a craft stick? Double yum! Thanks for the awesome post!!!
December 14th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
[...] can find the recipe here at Giverslog.com. I am still trying to figure out how to make them uniform. I tried 3 techniques spoon-dixie [...]
December 14th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
[...] gift items I made this holiday season was Hot Chocolate on a Stick. You can find the recipe here from this really awesome blog, Giver’s [...]
December 15th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I made this yesterday afternoon and they were awesome! I had never worked with chocolate before and was nervous, but it was surprisingly easy to work with.
I left the chocolate in the double boiler when I added the cocoa and sugar, which helped to keep it soft (it does get very thick!). I piped the chocolate into the molds with my first batch – very messy! I used two spoons the second time with much better success.
When they came out of the molds, I dipped them in melted milk chocolate and green and red nonpariels. They are so cute! I can’t wait to give them as gifts!! Thanks for the great idea!!
December 15th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
I decided to make these for christmas presents, along with personalized mugs, and they turned out amazing! What a great and delicious idea!
For an additional Christmasy twist I put one flavour in first, then a thin layer of crushed up candy canes, and another layer of chocolate on top. Looks and tastes great!
December 15th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
This is my third time making these and I’ve had a SNAFU with my second batch. My first batch worked out great, I used a Valrona bar bittersweet and regular Hershey cocoa powder. The texture was great, but the distinct bitter aftertaste turned me off. I thought it was the cocoa powder, so I went to Williams & Sonoma and purchased the Dutch processed cocoa(I had to read the back of the container as it wasn’t evident on the front).
For the second batch I used a Ghirardelli bittersweet baking bar (4 oz) with 4 oz of Ghirardelli baking chips that appeared identical to the bar. The chocolate seized up when I added the dry ingredients. (Insert scream and a few nasty words) I tasted the chocolate and again it was too bitter.
Third batch. I finally realized that I am really a milk chocolate girl like SinquinK. So, I went and bought two bars of Lindt (my FAVORITE chocolate) Classic Recipe Milk Chocolate bar in a blue box 4.4oz, I used the Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder and everything turned out great!
December 15th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
My first ever batch is cooling in shot glasses with mini marshmallows on the bottom. Bad idea! Chocolate didn’t quite reach down there. I whacked the heck out of them to get it to at least hold the marshmallows in place.
I too encountered the doughy consistency. I’m using chocolate chips so I figured that whole 1/3 c. of chips = 2 oz. probably is a little off. I keep adding chips. In total, I used 2 cups of chocolate chips and it finally got to the squeezable consistency and did get to 10 shot glasses.
Also, I found out from other sites that if you want to add liquor, you can do it BEFORE you start melting the chocolate. It won’t seize. I’m going to test that out next! :)
December 15th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Okay…update. Whoever says you can add the liquor while melting the chocolate is wrong. LOL. It looked great up until when you add the dry ingredients and then it seized. *sigh* Please feel free to delete my previous comment. LOL.
December 15th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Thanks for the note. I’m disappointed! b/c I just want to throw in a little of the almond extract i have sitting in my spice drawer. i’ll have to shop for an alternative.
December 15th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
[...] Hot Chocolate on a Stick Seed Ribbon A DIY Shadow Puppet Theater Share and Enjoy: [...]
December 16th, 2009 at 4:01 am
I love this idea! thank you for sharing!
December 16th, 2009 at 8:59 am
This is super cute!! I am going to try it this week as gifts for people in my neighborhood and at work. Wish me luck, I’m not quite sure what ’simmer’ and ‘in templer’ mean, and I don’t have a double boiler, but I will try my best to make it work! (I am obviously not a cook at all!) Your directions are very well written, so I will read them through a few hundred times, and hope they turn out :). Thanks! ~Jen
December 16th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
What a wonderful idea!! I am thinking of trying it not only with a peppermint stick, but also dipping in chocolate and then mini marshmallows after they are cooled!! I am hoping this will work out well…
December 17th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Finally, success! I used Ghirardelli 65% cocoa and semi-sweet mix. The mold is 1-oz condiment cups I bought from Smart & Final. The sticks are from Cost Plus. I’ll do a blog post soon. THANK YOU for sharing the recipe! In the mean time, here’s a picture. – http://twitpic.com/tvzyn
December 17th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I’m so gonna make these!
I want to make some different styles of chocolate and was thinking about these:
- Chili
- Cinnamon
- Vanilla (sugar, not extract. I think that would work better. Or at all for that matter^^)
- Caramel (eighter melt some cubes (those for baking) with the chocolate or just push them in the melted chocolote once it’s in the ice cube tray. I’m going for the later, because I don’t want to screw it up)
And what I would really want to try (put I don’t want to ruin a whole batch…) is honey. Could I just stirr that in with the chocolate? Has anyone got an idea?
I’m gonna write how the others turned out.
Thank you very much for this recipe!
December 17th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Thanks so much for sharing this! I was hoping to post this on my blog as well. I’ll be sure to give you credit, of course…along with a link back to this post.
Everyone has been so impressed with this gift! I took your suggestion and added that final touch – I decided to melt a little bit of white chocolate and then rolled it in some crushed up candy canes. Not only are they cute, but they also make for a delicious cup of hot chocolate.
Thanks so much for sharing! :)
December 17th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I must be doing something wrong, because I’ve just ruined 4 batches and had to throw them out! The chocolate is fine until I mix in the cocoa/sugar. There is no way water is getting into it, either. Is it possible I’m using the wrong type of cocoa? Is Hersheys unsweetened not good for this recipe?
December 18th, 2009 at 11:48 am
I’m going to try these today. I’ve never worked with chocolate so I’m a bit nervous. Instead of sticks, I’m going to try out plastic spoons :)
December 19th, 2009 at 7:07 am
Totally fabulous idea! I love it, thanks so much… that said…
ACK! Help! My tray broke trying to get these out and there are still some in the tray, and the sticks are coming lose? WHat did I do wrong? I want to try it again (I only did a small batch for starters.)
December 19th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I had the same problem as Sarah Townsend and some of the other posters. I used Ghiradelli chocolate and followed the directions exactly (definitely no liquid creeped in either!) but after I added the dry ingredients it was very doughy and sticky and didn’t look shiny or smooth. =( It was tough to pipe it into the ice cube trays, but I got it in there. Haven’t tried to take them out, yet. I used hershey’s cocoa powder too–is that the problem? Also, someone else mentioned something about measuring before or after sifting? I measured before. Could this have been the problem? Help! I love this idea and would love for it to be easier next time! =)
December 19th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
[...] click me! [...]
December 19th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I’m drinking my first cup of hot cocoa using this and it is delicious!!! My friends are going to flip when I give it to them this Christmas. I just wanted to add a few tips I’ve learned over the years working with chocolate that came in handy.
1st- if the chocolate begins to seize (since for some reason, both of my batches seized, I’m thinking it’s the humidity in the air where I am) you do not have to throw it out. Just put the bowl back over the hot water (broiler style) and add a little bit of vegetable oil (I used somewhere between a tsp and a tbsp) after stirring over a little heat, the chocolate will get smooth again. Also good to note, chocolate can seize if you add any cold ingredients. The chocolate is still usable if it seizes, it just cannot be tempered since it is no longer considered “pure” (but at that point, it can’t be tempered anyways due to the cocoa and sugar and all)
2nd – getting the chocolate in a ziploc bag. I see a lot of people had trouble with this, so maybe this approach will help. I took a gallon size ziploc bag and opened it up, allowing air to get into the bag. Then, I took out a red plastic cup. I placed my hand (washed and VERY carefully dried) into one corner of the bag and then pushed that corner into the plastic cup. The remaining bag I just folded over the rim of the cup. This way, I could easily scoop the chocolate into the bag and used the rim of the cup to scrape off the extra chocolate. This way, all the chocolate stayed in the section of the bag that was in the cup and didn’t stay on my spoon. After everything was scooped into the bag, I lifted up the entire bag and squeezed the chocolate further into the corner (like you would squeeze a tube of toothpaste, flattening as I went). Then I twisted the bag a couple times near the base of the chocolate before I cut off the tip of the bag. From there, I just squeezed from the bottom of the bag, pushing forward as I went. This also helps get as much out of the bag as possible, and as cleanly as possible.
Also, for Christmas, I used candy canes for the sticks. I broke off the curved part and hid the break in the chocolate. Looks very nice and added the smallest bit of mint to the flavoring. Not enough to scare away those who don’t like mint. However, I found the peppermint sticks didn’t want to stay standing up right away. To fix this, I stuck the batch in the fridge and checked it every 5 minutes or so to reposition the sticks. After that, I let it finish setting up at room temperature to prevent the candy canes from getting too brittle.
December 19th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I fell in love with these the second I stumbled upon them and knew I would be making them for Christmas. But I am not having very good luck with them. My first batch a few nights ago completely seized up into a giant ball of clay and I know that water was not the issue. I threw it out.
I tried again this evening being extremely careful and had the same result. I was beyond frustrated and getting upset over wasting this chocolate!!! But thank you Tiffany for posting your comments. I heated up my ball of chocolate again with a little vegetable oil (hoping that doesn’t affect the flavor). It never got “smooth” but at least I could get a spoon in it. I spooned it into my ice trays. I had doubled the amount and still only filled 12 ice cubes with it…not sure how the recipe makes 10???
Well I’m waiting for them to harden up and we’ll see how this goes…wish me luck :)
December 20th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
These are so much fun I made them as party favors for my sons class!!!! I used candy canes as the sticks and they worked great! For those that are having the seizing issue try putting it back over the heat, that is what I did! I did have to add a bit more chocolate and a tsp of crisco to one batch. SO MUCH FUN!!! Thanks again.
December 21st, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Hi….i was enamored with these when i first saw them on foodgawker…but just got around to making them..and blogging about them too. Just thought you would want to know I linked to you from my posting.
Like The Whimsical Princess, I used candy canes as the stick.
if you want to see your link…
http://fudgeripple.blogspot.com/2009/12/hot-cocoa-on-peppermint-stick.html
i hope you don’t mind! Let me know if you do and I will remove.
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:37 am
These are SO amazing. I’m really excited to try my hand at making them.
I do home-made marshmellows quite a bit and was thinking of possibly dipping the hot chocolate in the marshmellow fluff before it sets. Marshmellow coated hot chocolate on a stick?
Or possibly using a layer of marshmellow on the bottom of your mold?
Has anyone else tried to incorporate marshmellows?
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Just made my first batch of these. Used Ghirardelli milk chocolate and Swiss Miss cocoa mix (our sifter ist kaput). Turned out great, though the chocolate does melt a little strangely–that might be from the veggie oil, though. That trick works REALLY well.
I was patient in the kitchen for the first time…um, ever, actually. Kept the heat JUST high enough to melt the chocolate. It took forever, but they look pretty nice–not nearly as shiny as it would be normally, but still very smooth and pleasant.
I think the 8-packets of cocoa mix rule might be variable depending on the brand of mix–when I got to about seven packets of Swiss Miss in the mix, it started to turn very, very grainy. I added a little bit of Canola oil, and it smoothed out again, but I decided against adding the last bit of cocoa mix.
At this point, my chocolate did have the doughy consistency people have mentioned, but that didn’t cause any real trouble–I just scooped the chocolate with a spatula. It still piped well, but needed to be squeezed a bit harder than I expected it to.
I made half of this batch with long wooden skewers (a little too long, truthfully) which had some trouble staying upright in the chocolate, even with a full-sized marshmallow on each skewer. I made the other half on plastic spoons. Those don’t move around quite so much as it cools, and also work much better for stirring than the skewers do. I may try Popsicle sticks next time.
Thanks, AmberLee–this is a GREAT winter recipe, and I can’t wait to do it properly with my own sugar and cocoa. Just need to replace our sifter first!
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Sorry for double posting, but: my dad just told me “I’ve never had hot chocolate this good.” Best compliment EVER.
Also, some advice for anyone having trouble extracting the cocoa from your mold: if you’re using a plastic ice cube tray, like me, take a paring knife, press it flush against the wall of each mold, and press down against the chocolate. It’ll pop up, and you won’t have to risk pulling the stick out of the chocolate!
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:44 am
This recipe did not double well at all for me- it turned out more like cookie dough than frosting- and I am really disappointed!! These were going to be CHristmas presents for my mom and now I have to go buy more chocolate because this batch is ruined. This Holly is decidedly not jolly.
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:26 am
Hi Holly,
I am so sad to hear this. Boo for added Christmas stress. There seem to be a few people who are having trouble with the recipe. I would love to narrow down what the problem is, a couple have suggested that it could be Hershey’s Cocoa? Have you tried Tiffany’s trick? Maybe rewarming the chocolate and adding up to a tablespoon of vegetable oil would make the difference. I added extra cocoa to one batch last week (I was in the mood for dark dark cocoa) and got really thick chocolate, but still spread it into a mold and it tasted fantastic, it was just a little messier to get in. If you happen to figure out what went wrong, I’d love to hear.
December 24th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Thanks for the great idea, AmberLee! I decided to make some of these for last-minute Christmas goodies, and they turned out wonderful. I used Nestle Cocoa and Wilton Light Cocoa Candy Melts (it’s what I had on hand), and molded them in tiny plastic cups. I got nine per batch, and they popped out super easily. I melted the chocolate in the microwave with no problems.
Another little thing to consider for those of you with too-thick mixtures: it will start to harden pretty quickly once the chocolate is off the heat. I worked more quickly with my second batch (now that I was sure of what I was doing) and had a much easier time filling the molds.
I drizzled mine in white chocolate and wrapped them in cling wrap, tied off with Christmassy ribbon. Of course I had to have a test cup, and it was great. Next time, and I’m sure there will be a next time, I am definitely going to try candy canes for sticks – and get a better quality, real chocolate, hehe.
December 25th, 2009 at 12:35 am
[...] Everyone Loves Chocolate: homemade hot cocoa (on a stick!), a selection of each of the three cookies / truffles listed above, the movie [...]
December 26th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I made these a few days ago, and they turned out really well! (Though, they were stored too close to the stove while Christmas dinner was being made, and now have a little fat bottom. :P)
They were a little messy, but fun to make. I suggest keeping the mix over heat right up until you’re ready to put it in molds. Especially is the room is a little cooler. My cool counter top made things thicken too quickly, so I reheated.
I did have a problem though, upon making hot chocolate with them. They didn’t fully mix with the milk. They stayed a little chunky the whole time. Even after I popped the mug into the microwave to heat the milk some more. Any ideas as to what may be causing this?
December 27th, 2009 at 7:52 am
[...] followed this recipe and made the portions in ice cube trays, adding an extra large “craft stick” as a [...]
December 27th, 2009 at 8:03 am
I made these for Christmas gifts and they turned out beautifully! Already I have gotten some rave reviews. The recipe worked fine for me with no alterations- although the thick consistency of the chocolate did make a bit of a mess. I used Ghiradelli candy making chocolate (the big bar/block) and Ghiradelli double chocolate chips along with Hershey’s cocoa powder.
I made a second batch and used the microwave instead of the stove this time. I kept the mixture a little warmer this time and therefore it was a runnier consistency and made it easier to pipe in the molds. I had to wait for the second batch to firm up a bit before inserting the sticks, but it was a little easier this way overall.
You can see pictures of my finished result here:
http://tothestarsthroughdifficulty.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/hot-chocolate-on-a-stick/
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:04 am
Hey AmberLee…
I gave these a try, and they were great!
Thought I would share my methods and finished product:
http://bowdenisms.blogspot.com/2009/12/hot-chocolate-on-stick-yum.html
Thanks for the great Christmas gifts!
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Clearly, everyone else knew about this before I did. How completely cool! *runs to kitchen*
January 6th, 2010 at 6:36 am
[...] ??: http://giverslog.com/?p=3290 [...]
January 10th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
I tested out your recipe as well, using the Wilton Chocolate Pro chips meant for fondue. They came out really well in my opinion. :3 Thanks so much for this amazing recipe. I hope more people try this recipe out.
http://pmoys.independentchaos.com/?p=605
January 26th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
[...] for the holidays?Some secret presents, and maybe a few decorations. But maybe not. I am making these for neighbor and hostess [...]
January 29th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
I made these tonight for a giveaway at an event for our church tomorrow, and they turned out fantastic!! Thanks for the recipe!
January 29th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
OH, and I used the Ghiardhelli chips for fondue …perfecto!
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Hi! I just made these for my sister’s baby shower as the favors. My first batch took a turn for the worse so I had to clean up and start over. The ratio seems slightly off (I used Guittard chocolate), but I found that adding just a few more ounces of melted chocolate fixed it right up. They were a huge success!! Everyone loved them! I used ice cube trays, lollipop sticks (1.99 at the craft store), and small treat bags (also at the craft store) and tied it off with ribbons – magnificent!! So frothy and yummy – thanks for this gem. Will be making again and again…
February 4th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
This may be a dumb question (and I haven’t read *all* the comments so forgive me if it was answered already), but if I use the chocolate made for a chocolate fountain or fondue, do I still need to temper it, or can I just melt it? Thanks! I’m so glad I found your post on tempering/melting chocolate. I had NO idea about most of the tips!
February 4th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Hi Dawn,
Thanks so much for stopping by. To answer your question, yes.
-If you use any kind of real chocolate (if it says cocoa butter in the ingredients) you will need to temper it if you heat it over 90 degrees, that’s when the cocoa butter crystals break down.
-If you can chop it really fine and keep it under 90 degrees when you melt it, it will stay in temper.
-If you use chocolate flavored candy melt wafers (if it lists some other vegetable fat in the ingredients instead of cocoa butter) then you do not have to temper.
And these will still taste fine w/o tempering them, they just won’t be as pretty. Good luck!
February 9th, 2010 at 9:10 am
[...] grandma and grandpa. I can’t think of anything sweeter. So yesterday we got to work making my hot chocolate on a stick recipe in an appropriate form to enjoy over Valentines day. I was very pleased with how they turned out. [...]
February 10th, 2010 at 6:20 am
[...] 2010 February 10 by Alex At Christmas I made hot chocolate on a stick posted at The Giver’s Log. It was just about the easiest and most appreciated kitchen related gift I’ve ever done. [...]
February 13th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
I am so disappointed. My hot chocolate sticks didn’t work! At first they were really thick ~ so much so that I had to add more melted chocolate. Then when I tried to take them out of the mold they stuck. Not sure what I did wrong, but welcome any ideas.
February 14th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
[...] I made various types of chocolate. Chocolate blocks and peppermint bark and hot chocolate on a stick. [...]
February 18th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Hi Nancy,
I am SO sorry to hear you were frustrated with these. You know, I haven’t tried it with this recipe, but with other chocolate recipes I’ve added a tablespoon of vegetable oil or shortening. That may be worth trying to avoid the frustration of it being too thick. I’ve tried this with three different chocolates and have noticed some get thicker faster than others. Also, if you do want to add less sugar and cocoa, that’s fine, it just means the chocolate won’t go as far. You’ll need more chocolate on a stick for the same mug full of milk/cream.
When I make these in muffin pans, I have to warm the bottom of the pan in hot water to get them out. But if you have them in an ice tray or silicone mold, try putting them in the fridge for 5 minutes. They should pop right out. (fingers crossed).
I hope this helps!
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I am not sure why but I am slightly obsessed with finding recipes and projects for things on sticks. Hot cocoa on a stick?! Brilliant. And kudos to you for experimenting with it. Thank you so much for sharing this!
March 9th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Thank you for this!
When I try it i may use peppermint sticks! yum!
March 19th, 2010 at 5:02 am
[...] tror jeg blot disse ville gøre aftenen og weekenden ekstra lækker. Jeg har fundet opskriften hos GiversLog, som har lavet en trin-for-trin anvisning (dog på engelsk) på hvordan man laver dem. Bottoms up! [...]
March 30th, 2010 at 7:17 am
[...] and shopkeepers. Or visit the archives to read about mailing a Frisbee with no envelope, making hot chocolate on a stick, or doodling on cake or in hand [...]
April 6th, 2010 at 10:09 am
sooo very cool!!!
April 9th, 2010 at 4:00 am
[...] HOT CHOCOLATE ON A STICK recipe here [...]
April 28th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
[...] up to a year. Don’t keep it in the fridge because it is really good at absorbing odors. Source: Giver’s Log Posted in Chocolate, Dessert, [...]
June 5th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
The kids & I do a variation of this at Christmas for the teachers. A few years back, I found a bunch of ceramic holiday spoon ornaments that were marked down something crazy…like 90%. I bought as many as the store had. Every year, the kiddos & I dip the spoon end into dark chocolate, then we tie a small cello bag around the chocolate end, attach a Starbucks card and instructions on how to stir up your own cafe mocha. It’s been a big hit so far.
July 2nd, 2010 at 7:10 am
[...] for you. Hot, creamy, sipping chocolate..on a stick! Treat your guests to this great find from Giver’s Log. All you need is your favorite chocolate, ice cube trays, and sticks. Add your chocolate creation [...]
July 8th, 2010 at 9:05 am
[...] For detailed instructions head over to the Giver’s Log. [...]
July 10th, 2010 at 7:43 am
[...] (Jumbo) – CopperGifts.com Then, I found this page which is dedicated to chocolate favors! HOT CHOCOLATE ON A STICK recipe | giverslog.com Also, "natural shape" candy lolipops are easy and cheap! The ingredients can be found at [...]
August 7th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Hi, thanks for this great recipe
I have just features your chocolate on a stick on my blog at http://thatcutelittlecake.blogspot.com/2010/08/christmas-in-july-find-foodie-gifts.html
I have of course linked back to you
Thanks
August 12th, 2010 at 8:58 am
[...] How to make Hot Chocolate on a Stick at Giver’s Log [...]
August 13th, 2010 at 4:02 am
[...] made the Hot Chocolate on a Stick from Amber’s recipe (and tutorial) on The Giver’s [...]
August 13th, 2010 at 4:35 am
[...] {genius – save this for the winter!}. You can find the hot chocolate on a stick recipe here. Great job, [...]
August 21st, 2010 at 12:29 pm
[...] Aah, I must stop reading other people’s blogs and get on with actual making some things. I have tonight fallen in love with this blog too http://giverslog.com/?p=3290. [...]