Frozen Hot Chocolate, Inspired by Serendipity 3
Melted chocolate stirred with hot cocoa mix, sugar and milk, cooled, then blended with ice until it is thick like a frozen daiquiri and piled into a goblet under whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Inspired by, not official.
Inspired by Serendipity 3. Not an official recipe: the restaurant keeps the cocoa blend it uses for its Frrrozen Hot Chocolate proprietary, and nothing here claims to reproduce it. Serendipity 3 opened in 1954 on New York's Upper East Side, founded by Calvin Holt, Patch Caradine and Stephen Bruce; Wikipedia lists Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol and Jacqueline Kennedy among its regulars. The Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, spelled with three r's, became its signature. For the restaurant's 50th anniversary in 2004, NPR's Liane Hansen talked with Bruce about his book "Sweet Serendipity" and printed a home recipe that uses store-bought hot chocolate mix. It is about as American as hot chocolate gets: it is not hot at all.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Melted chocolate stirred with hot cocoa mix, sugar and milk, cooled, then blended with ice until it is thick like a frozen daiquiri and piled into a goblet under whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Inspired by, not official.
🇲🇽 The original
Mexico still drinks chocolate the old way: tablets of ground cacao, sugar and cinnamon melted into milk or water and whipped to a froth with a wooden molinillo. See the Mexican Hot Chocolate (Chocolate Mexicano) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Melted chocolate plus cocoa mix
Real chocolate gives body and flavor, and the powdered mix adds milk solids and sweetness that still taste like "hot chocolate" when frozen.
Cooling before blending
A room-temperature base keeps the ice from melting too fast, so the drink blends thick instead of watery.
Step by step
- Step 1
Melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (bowl not touching the water), stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Step 2
Stir in the hot chocolate mix and sugar until fully blended.
- Step 3
Take the bowl off the heat and slowly stir in 1/2 cup of the milk until smooth.
- Step 4
Let it cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes, stirring now and then. Warm chocolate would melt the ice.
- Step 5
Put the remaining 1 cup milk, the cooled chocolate mixture and the ice in a blender. Blend on high about 1 minute, until smooth and thick, like a frozen daiquiri.
- Step 6
Pour into two large goblets, top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, and serve right away with straws and long spoons.
Frozen Hot Chocolate, Inspired by Serendipity 3
Serves 2 (large goblets, about 2 cups each) · about 4 cups · 50 min total
Chocolate base
- 3 oz assorted chocolate (six 1/2-oz pieces; for example semisweet, milk and dark), chopped
- 2 tsp hot chocolate mix (store-bought, or the mix in our Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix recipe)
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk, divided
To blend and serve
- 3 cups ice
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped
- About 1/4 oz chocolate, shaved with a vegetable peeler
Method
- Melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (bowl not touching the water), stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Stir in the hot chocolate mix and sugar until fully blended.
- Take the bowl off the heat and slowly stir in 1/2 cup of the milk until smooth.
- Let it cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes, stirring now and then. Warm chocolate would melt the ice.
- Put the remaining 1 cup milk, the cooled chocolate mixture and the ice in a blender. Blend on high about 1 minute, until smooth and thick, like a frozen daiquiri.
- Pour into two large goblets, top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, and serve right away with straws and long spoons.
Adapted from "Serendipity 3 Frrrozen Hot Chocolate" as printed by NPR (Weekend Edition, Liane Hansen, September 18, 2004), from Stephen Bruce's "Sweet Serendipity". NPR's version uses store-bought cocoa mix, so it is not the restaurant's full formula. NPR gives no serving count; we call it 2 large goblets. The amount of whipped cream (1/2 cup cream, whipped) and shavings (1/4 oz) are ours, as are the times. Inspired by, not official. wwno.org. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Use a mix of chocolates for a rounder flavor, as NPR's recipe does.
- Freeze the goblets for 15 minutes so the drink stays thick longer.
- Too thin? Add 1/2 cup more ice and blend again. Too thick to sip? Add milk a splash at a time.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Stephen Bruce invented frozen hot chocolate. Folklore: The Nibble's blog, seen only through search results, says Bruce told them in the 1960s that he invented it; NPR's 2004 piece does not say who created it.
- This is the real Serendipity recipe. Disputed: NPR printed it from Bruce's own book, but it relies on store-bought mix and the restaurant's cocoa blend is proprietary. Call it inspired by, not official.
- It is hot chocolate. Folklore: it is a blended frozen drink; the name is the joke.
Every other hot chocolate
Mesoamerican-Style Cacao Drink with Chile and Annatto
Unsweetened chocolate melted into hot water with red annatto, ground chile, vanilla and a little honey, then poured from cup to cup until it wears a tall head of foam. A modern home version of the drink the Maya and Aztecs prized, not a reconstruction.
Mexican Hot Chocolate (Chocolate Mexicano)
Mexican tablet chocolate, already sweetened and spiced with cinnamon, melted into hot milk and beaten with a wooden molinillo until it foams.
Spanish Chocolate a la Taza (for Churros)
Dark chocolate melted into nearly boiling milk with a little cocoa, sugar and cornstarch, then stirred over low heat until it is thick enough to coat a churro. The Madrid way to start the day or end the night.
Italian Cioccolata Calda Densa
Milk whisked with cocoa and plenty of cornstarch, brought just to a simmer, then finished with melted dark chocolate until it is as thick as a loose pudding. You eat the last of it with a spoon.
Parisian Chocolat Chaud
Whole milk and very good bittersweet chocolate, nothing else but an optional spoon of brown sugar, simmered until thick and served in tiny cups the Paris café way. Inspired by the famous thick chocolate at Angelina; not Angelina's recipe.
Viennese-Style Hot Chocolate with Whipped Cream (Heiße Schokolade Wiener Art)
Dark chocolate melted into hot milk with a little honey and cinnamon, poured into cups and capped with a big spoon of stiffly whipped cream, the way Austrian and German cafés serve it.
Colombian Chocolate Santafereño (Hot Chocolate with Cheese)
Cinnamon-scented hot chocolate frothed with a molinillo and poured over cubes of soft fresh cheese, which melt in the cup and are fished out with a spoon. Bogotá's breakfast and afternoon "onces".
Filipino Tsokolate (Tablea Hot Chocolate)
Pure roasted cacao tablets (tablea) dissolved in boiling water, simmered slowly with milk, sweetened with muscovado sugar and frothed with a wooden batirol. Thick, grainy and deeply chocolatey.
Classic American Hot Cocoa (the Recipe on the Can)
Cocoa powder, sugar and a pinch of salt boiled into a quick syrup, then stretched with a quart of hot milk and a little vanilla and whisked until foamy. Hershey's classic, made for six mugs and a bag of marshmallows.
Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix
Nonfat dry milk, powdered sugar, Dutch-process cocoa and ground white chocolate, blitzed into a mix that keeps for months. One scoop in a mug of hot milk tastes like the packet you grew up with, only better.
5-Minute Stovetop Cocoa for Two
Dutch-process cocoa and sugar whisked into a little water for one minute, then whole milk heated through on medium-high until steaming. Two real mugs of cocoa in the time it takes to find the packet.
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