The perfect comfort hot drink for winter!

If you have never heard of champurrado (aka Mexican hit chocolate) you are missing out. Traditionally just made with water, chocolate and using corn flour as a thickener, so it’s more rich in chocolate flavour and has a lovely thick texture. I am showing you how to make this traditional water based hot chocolate but of course feel free to use milk if you prefer.

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🌱Vegan

🌾GF

🍽️4 portions

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Ingredients

• 950ml water

• 80g raw cane sugar (panela)

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 90g dark chocolate

• Pinch of salt

• 45g masa harina (pre cooked corn flour)

Method

• Add the 700ml of the water, sugar and cinnamon stick to a saucepan. Heat over medium heat while stirring until the sugar has dissolved, about 3-5 minutes. Discard the cinnamon stick.

• Add the chopped chocolate and allow it to melt for 3-4 of minutes while intermittently whisking

• In a bowl whisk together the rest of water and corn flour until smooth. Pour into hot chocolate, whisking to avoid lumps

• Reduce heat to low, and continue to cook for 20 minutes until thick, stirring often. When it’s ready it should look thick and shiny. Cook longer if you like it thicker, or add milk if you prefer it thinner.

• I like to pass it through a strainer before serving to make sure no lumps remain. Enjoy with hot with a bit of cream if you want

FAQS and Tips

• You can use milk instead of water if you prefer or 50% water 50% milk !

• I used 80% hot chocolate but if you prefer it less strong you can use 50 or 70%

• The most readily available pre cooked corn flour is PAN pre cooked white maize meal. You can find it in many south american stores or buy it directly from Amazon. Best news is that this is the flour used to make arepas (I have a recipe for this as well just so you know!)

• Once you make champurrado you can refrigerate it for up to 4 days. It will tend to thicken up so I would recommend adding some milk when you reheat it to thin it down.