11772 Chocolate Liqueur Recipe

I don't have the recipe you asked for but here's one I found on the internet:
Ingredients
750 ml milk
400 g sugar
100 g cocoa
250 ml grain alcohol
Directions
Heat the milk. Add sugar and cocoa, cook, stirring. Let cool a bit then add the alcohol. Let cool in a pan of water. Strain and pour into bottles.

Barb
Thank a bunch..it looks just like the one I made from the magazine..it is so good to pour on icecream and desserts. or just strawberries. A bit thick to drink...
Hope all is well.
Margaret

Yes, as a chocoholic I love it and no, it's not too thick for sipping - compare it to Italian hot chocolate! I've never made it - are you going to make it again?

I did a search, but I was unable to find the recipe you mention. Nevertheless, I used to make liqueurs at home for a while and basically, what you need is a good spirit base, which can be grain alcohol, vodka, rum, brandy, grappa, but only use top quality or it will show in the final result. The other main ingredient is the sirup and to make a good chocolate liqueur you need the best cocoa powder you can find. Again, it is a problem of quality. The sirup I make does not contain milk, it is just water, sugar and cocoa powder and the proportions for each cup of spirit base will be as follows:

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water at room temperature

Procedure
1. In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powder and boiling water, stir to thoroughly dissolve the cocoa. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Mix the sugar syrup into the cocoa mixture and add the spirit base.
3. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer or a muslin cloth into a container. Cover the container with a lid and allow to cool.
4. Pour into bottles and keep for 4 weeks in a dark, cool place.

You can drink it after that, but do not keep it for too long.

I hope it helps. It is also great served over ice cream.

Here in Italy what cocoa powder would you recommend? Also, is one brand of grain alcohol better than another? Do you think your recipe would keep longer if it were refrigerated, and if not, how long do you think it will keep?

I will def make it again. And I kept it refrigerated up to over 2 years..and was fine. The last bottle I opened was a bit thin and runny but long after I made it. I used it for Xmas gifts..buying sm bottles at the market and making labels "from Margaret's Kitchen with Love" and made some cookies, and put them tog for Xmas..I used the Perugina unsweetened choc powder..

[quote=umbria lover;112140]Here in Italy what cocoa powder would you recommend? Also, is one brand of grain alcohol better than another? Do you think your recipe would keep longer if it were refrigerated, and if not, how long do you think it will keep?[/quote]

In Italy I will always use Pernigotti Cocoa Powder from Florence. For those in America, use Ghirardelli's from San Francisco. Droste or Poulain are also good brands.
As for grain alcohol it all depends on what you have available in the area. If you use vodka, try Schmirnoff Red Label.
Refrigeration will help to keep the liqueur once the bottle has been opened. Possibly 4 weeks. To store it before drinking it for 4 weeks find a dark, cool place. No need to refrigerate at this stage.

Very appropriate that someone in the chocolate capital of the country (Perugia) should be interested in making choccie liqueur! Sounds wonderful. I sat by the fire with an Italian neighbour a couple of weeks back on a very cold, wet, windy night enjoying a glass of her homemade nut liqueur. An interesting flavour but one I can only manage in very small quantities, she's promised I can help her make a new batch when the nuts become available in June. For those interested, I'll post on how we did it once we've done it.

[quote=umbria lover;112137]it's not too thick for sipping - compare it to Italian hot chocolate! [/quote]

I was thinking just this morning, any more nice sunny days and I'm going to have to give up hot chocolate until the autumn and opt for cappuccino in the morning instead. I love it but don't you find it varies quite a bit in this country from cafe to cafe? I know there are the specialist places - there's one in Chianciano old town where they have a range of perhaps as many as 30 different varieties - but sometimes a cafe serves a good one (thick and dark and best consumed with a spoon) and othertimes it's more like naff old Nesquick.

We are lucky to be able to drink every morning the nicest cappuccino you can imagine at Bar Rudy, on Via del Brennero at Bagni. And it only costs 90 cents! The most expensive one in Tuscany and not the best one either at Piazza della Signoria in Florence, on the terrace, but there you pay for the sights. I think that it was about 5 euro per cup. Generally, coffee is quite good throughout Italy, at least much better than the "potions" you drink in France and the UK (sorry guys). This is why, when I go to London I only have tea.

It is nigh impossible to get a decent cappuccino in Provence, Gala. Their version is made with whipped up cream, French cream, It's absolutely disgusting and that is another reason for not choosing to live in France.

I love the ritual of going to have a cappuccino. And yes you can get very good cappuccini in London and in fact nationwide. We have Pret A Manger which uses organic products. Okay not the same cappuccino as Italy which is all froth and served in quite small cups as you are not expected to sit down and watch the world go by, but in larger cups with a good balance of coffee and froth. Carluccio's too in London is closer to Italian cappuccini. Well hey look at the name. It's to be recommended.

One place though to avoid for coffee despite the comfy decor, in my opinion, is Caffe Nero, no, not Italian, but a UK chain company. My friends and myself find the coffee there very bitter.

London is huge and luckily is very sophisticated palate wise!!!

Sorry Sally, I must disagree, Pret-a-manger has nice sandwiches and rolls but coffee..... no comparison possible.....
Now, for anyone who likes "macchiato" the best one in Italy is served at the "Antico Cafe del Simo" on Via Fillungo in the old Lucca. Not only delicious but a true work of art as the guy in charge of the coffee machine makes a special decoration with the froth in the cup, generally a flower, or a leaf, or some small design. The coffee shop is the one where Puccini used to go and they organise special events to remember the composer.
As for chocolate.... Piemonte, Perugia... there are so many excellent brands and places producing excellent varieties in Italy that you put on weight just by thinking at it.... With Easter approaching it will be temptation at its highest..... By the way, the traditional chocolate Easter eggs were created by the best French patissiers at Versailles to surprise King Louis XIV.

I actually can think of a bar in a small town in Abruzzo, where you get dreadful cappuccini. They always make it with long life milk, despite there being shops next door!!! So yes of course you go to the next bar, if it's open that is. lol

Gala, you're referring to Rivoire in Florence for the cappuccinos, I think. We agree, worth every centissimi (I think they may be more than Euros 5/each, incidentally and will search out last week's scontrino to double check). Their hot chocolate is pretty good too, personally I prefer senza rather than con panna. But in precisely the same way that it is impossible to get a decent cup of tea in Italy, you can't find decent cup of coffee anywhere in Britain. It simply isn't the same no matter how hard they try or the hype. And when that Starbucks bloke bangs on about how he was inspired to start his company after enjoying coffee in Italy I can't help thinking he went seriously wrong somewhere along the way for Starbucks' coffee tastes nothing like the real Italian variety.

Yes, Violetta, it is Rivoire's and I also think that it is more than the 5 euros I quoted, but worth every cent. I also agree that tea outside the UK or Australia is just like medicine. As for Starbucks... I do not like their coffee.

Starbucks??? We are agreed upon something then Gala, (though their mince pies are great( lol

I have been to the "Antico Cafe del Simo" and yes their coffee is good. Another place I recommend is Caffe Olvidio in the man corso in Sulmona, Abruzzo It's opposite the Tourist Office. They serve Illy with a little heart on top - €1.20. It's also a great place to have lunch. They do salads and soup, I usually have freshly made "baguettes" with prosciutto, mozzarella, tomatoes with a glass, oh okay more likely two, of Montepulciano D'Abruzzo I'm "homesick" suddenly.

I mean Caffe Olvido

Can someone talk this technically challenged woman through posting a picture on this thread as I'd like to post a picture of Rivoire hot chocolate and brioche taken last week on a lovely sunny early spring day in Florence. You'll all be drooling, guaranteed, but how on earth do I do it? Step-by-step please someone! Thanks. V

[B]Hi Violeta,
This is how I do it,,, (post a photo)

[COLOR=Teal]At the bottom of the Reply page you will see a see 'Additional Options'.
Select :[/COLOR][/B]

Attach Files Valid file extensions: bmp doc gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png psd txt zip

[B][COLOR=Teal]Just click on manage attachments and you will get:
Manage Attachments [/COLOR][/B]
Upload File from your Commputer
Upload File from a URL

[B][COLOR=Teal]Click on Browse and find your file where you have stored your photo, highlight that and then click Open. The file will show in this Browse box. [/COLOR][/B]
Upload File from your Computer

[B][COLOR=Teal]Now click on Upload and your Manage Attachments box will return. When it shows 'File Attached' just close that box and your photo is already added to the bottom of your post...[/COLOR][/B]

[B]See - it's easy when you know how...[/B] :smile:

OMG Iìm salivating like a rabid hound:smile:

There is a better way, but this will get you started

[LIST]
[*]Select reply
[*]type your text
[*]scroll down and select manage attachments
[*]select browse from within upload file from your computer
[*]find photo on your computer, open it and select upload
[*]image will appear when you preview yout reply
[/LIST]No go post that Torta:yes:

it's hot chocolate and brioche but give me a few mins please as I have a man here fixing something whom I need to get rid of first. shouldn't be long.

Hey, that worked, thanks everyone. (You need to click on the image to see it properly)

And here's the view from the terrace at Rivoire looking over to the Palazzo Vecchio straight ahead, Loggia di Lanzi on the right. Sure, it's a pricey place but well worth the occasional splurge.

Oh yes, Violetta. Some of the nice things in life which give you a memorable moment worth every cent. And the Piazza della Signoria is fabulours. The other great experience that comes to my mind is having coffee at either "Florian" or "Quadri" at Piazza San Marco in Venice.

Hi Violetta

You're right I am drooling!
Have you tried the little bar on the fifth floor of Rinascente (?sp) department store in Piazza della Republica (Florence) for a bird's eye view of the duomo.

Good idea, JC. We only have to find the right date and time to meet. At least, we've got the place.