Mexican Hot Chocolate (aka Aztec Cocoa) | Slow Cooker + Stovetop Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you use a Mexican hot chocolate maker? ›

To use it is very simple. After making your pot of chocolate, you take the molinillo, place it between both palms and vigorously roll it back and forth. The rings on the bottom of the molinillo twirl around whipping the beverage into a foam.

Aztec hot chocolate is a traditional beverage customary to parts of Mexico where the ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations lived. At its most basic form, it's a mix of hot chocolate with chili powder or spice, and sometimes cinnamon and vanilla.

Mexican hot chocolate contains spices like cinnamon and chili and chopped bittersweet chocolate to create a very rich but less sweet flavor. Whereas traditional American hot chocolate is usually made with a combination of cocoa powder and/or chocolate and tends to be more on the sweet side.

During the Mayan period, people usually consumed chocolate as a bitter and spicy drink. This is because rather than adding sugar, they added cornmeal and chillies to the cacao to get the spicy flavor. Not quite the same as a Hershey's bar!

This Mixing tool, more commonly and traditional called “Molinillo" in Mexico, is a practical hand-held mixing utensil that was invented in the 1700's in response to the Spanish colonists' admiration for Mexico's inventive Hot Chocolate and Cocoa.

Their drinking chocolate cup of choice? Large vessels with spouts, coveted, yet not so practical. To create a foam they would pour liquid back and forth between bowls from a height – like ancient baristas.

For the ancient Maya and Aztecs, chocolate was a divine elixir, consumed as a bitter, frothy beverage during these sacred rituals. This bitter concoction was considered a drink of the gods, a medium through which mortals could commune with the divine. (When I add honey, I can get there!)

The simplest mix was cacao with ground maize (corn) and water, providing a healthy, 'cheap-and-cheerful' gruel, that 16th century Spanish friar Toribio Motolinía described as 'a very common drink'. Frequently combined with ground chilli, this 'poor man's chocolate' was consumed throughout Mesoamerica.

The Mayans called the drink “chocolhaa” (“bitter water”) and Aztecs called it “Xocolatl.” From those words eventually evolved the word “chocolate.” Cacao was used in special celebrations such as those for funeral rituals, war, or harvests.

The most significant difference is in the ingredients. Mexican hot chocolate uses various spices, including cinnamon, cloves, and ancho chili pepper.

Why does Mexican chocolate taste different? ›

Mexican chocolate should taste intense and have a rustic texture. Its flavor is due to the fact that the cacao beans are simply roasted and ground into a liquor, whereas a lot of European-style chocolate takes things a step further, using a conching machine to aerate the chocolate liquor and mellow out its flavor.

Champurrado is traditionally made with Mexican chocolate, masa harina or corn flour, piloncillo (a type of cane sugar), cinnamon, and water or milk. The masa or corn flour gives it a thicker consistency than regular hot chocolate.

But attitudes changed rapidly when Hernán Cortés returned to Spain from his bloody conquest of Mexico in 1521. He presented the Aztec drink made from cacao beans to King Charles V. Adjustments to the recipe were made, sugar was added, and chocolate soon became popular among the higher echelons of Spanish society.

The Aztec diet included a variety of fish and wild game: various fowl, pocket gophers, green iguanas, axolotls (a type of amphibian, much like a salamander), a type of crayfish called acocil, and a great variety of insects, larvae and insect eggs.

The recipe for balché is thought to be linked to the ancient Maya drink (Sharer 1994:576). It is produced from the bark of the balché tree. The bark is harvested, left in the sun to dry for four days, and cooked in three buckets of water. Five to six kilograms of honey are added alongside anise and cinnamon.

Pour 220ml of milk (or water or a milk-alternative) into the machine, then sprinkle in the hot chocolate flakes and press the button to start. And ta-dah! In just two-and-a-half minutes, you'll have a rich, luxurious hot chocolate ready to drink.

You simply roll the shaft between your palms to churn, mix, and foam the chocolate. The molinillo is also great for muddling fruits and herbs in homemade co*cktails! It's a pleasure to use or gift - and it's a guaranteed attention-grabber.

Place 9-10 chocolate buttons in a jug and cover with hot water from the kettle. Leave to soften for 10 seconds and carefully pour away the water. Add 250ml of hot milk or water and whisk until melted. Serve and enjoy!

A molinillo is a traditional turned wood whisk used in Latin America, as well as the Philippines, where it is also called a batirol or batidor. Its use is principally for the preparation of hot beverages such as hot chocolate, atole, cacao, and champurrado.