So, I got this craving the other week. Remembered this incredible hot chocolate I had ages ago, somewhere warm, maybe Spain? It was thick, almost like you could stand a spoon in it. People kept calling it something like ‘dame chocolate’, which I guess just means ‘gimme chocolate’, but it stuck in my head as the name for this amazing stuff. Couldn’t find anything quite like it in the cafes here, so I figured, how hard could it be to make myself?
Getting Started – The Hunt
First off, I hit the internet. Typed in variations of ‘thick Spanish hot chocolate’, ‘dame chocolate recipe’, you name it. Found a bunch of recipes, yeah, but they were all over the place. Some swore by using cornstarch to thicken it up. Others said that was cheating and you just needed the right kind of chocolate and patience. Seemed like everyone had a different ‘secret’. Honestly, it just made me more confused.
Attempt Number One: Just Melting Stuff
Alright, I decided to try the ‘pure’ method first. Went out and bought some decent dark chocolate bars, the kind you’d eat straight. Got home, chopped them up, and started melting them slowly into some whole milk on the stove. Stirred and stirred. It tasted okay, like melted chocolate milk, but it wasn’t thick. Not even close. Added some unsweetened cocoa powder hoping that might do it. Made it taste stronger, but still watery. Bit of a letdown.
Attempt Number Two: The Cornstarch Disaster
Okay, fine. Maybe cornstarch was the answer after all. Read up on how to do it without getting lumps. Mixed a tablespoon of cornstarch with a bit of cold milk until smooth. Then I heated up more milk, melted in the chocolate again, and whisked in the cornstarch slurry. It thickened up alright. Man, did it ever thicken. Within minutes, it was basically chocolate pudding. Gloopy and weird. Not drinkable at all. Poured the whole batch down the drain. Felt pretty dumb, and kind of annoyed about wasting the chocolate.
Finding the Right Stuff
I was about ready to give up and just dream about the ‘dame chocolate’. But then, browsing in a specialty food store, I stumbled upon something interesting. It was a block of Spanish chocolate specifically labeled for making hot chocolate – ‘Chocolate a la Taza’. Looked different from regular eating chocolate. Figured it was worth one last shot.
Success (Mostly)
This time, I followed the super simple instructions on the package. Basically, just break off chunks and heat them slowly with milk, stirring constantly. No cornstarch, no fancy tricks. I was skeptical after my last tries. But slowly, surely, it started to thicken. It took maybe 10 minutes of patient stirring over low heat. And wow. It got properly thick. Rich, dark, intense. Exactly the consistency I remembered!
Was it the mythical ‘dame chocolate’ from my memory? Hard to say for sure, memories get fuzzy. But it was delicious, deeply satisfying, and way better than my previous attempts. Took a few tries, some wasted effort, and finally finding the right specific ingredient, but I got there. Sometimes, it seems, the simplest way really is the best, provided you’ve got the right stuff to begin with. Worth the effort in the end.
