Red Wine Hot Chocolate is a simple hot cocktail that combines red wine and homemade hot chocolate. It’s a delicious dessert drink for everyone who enjoys red wine and rich, dark chocolate. Pick a bottle of your favorite red wine and make a batch of this boozy hot chocolate to warm up on those cold winter nights.
RED WINE HOT CHOCOLATE
Have you ever heard of red wine hot chocolate? If not, you have now and you should try it right away. Red wine goes very well with chocolate so combining it in a drink was just a matter of time.
I saw the idea for this intriguing cocktail about a month ago and could not stop thinking about it. I’ve had a bar of chocolate with a glass of wine, I’ve tried chocolate wine, I’ve even tried chocolate truffles filled with wine in the middle. This adult hot chocolate is the one red wine/chocolate combination that I have not had yet, so I had to try it immediately.
I took my a favorite hot chocolate recipe and worked with it to create this new cocktail. Amount of wine, sugar, and the type of wine were the most important things to figure out. Too much wine made the drink a little more acidic but there still should be a good amount of wine in the drink to make it prominent.
Wine should also taste good so it’s important to choose the one you love to drink. Chocolate will not mask the taste of wine but enhance and compliment it. So bad wine will still taste bad mixed with hot chocolate.
Red wine and chocolate is a combination that goes well together because both have rich flavors that play on the creaminess of chocolate and acidity in wine. Adding some sugar is the best way to balance out these flavors and bring everything together. Amount of sugar does depend on personal taste though.
WHICH WINE TO USE
Like I mentioned above, it’s important to choose the wine that you like to drink on it’s own. Anytime you use wine in cooking, get the wine that you like the way it tastes.
For this dessert drink, it’s best to choose fruitier and sweeter red wine. Wines that tent to be fruity and sweet are Shiraz, Pinot Nior, Zinfandel, and Merlot. All good wines to use here.
You can also add some port, which is a sweet, sipping dessert wine. Add 1 part of port to 2 parts of other red wine to the hot chocolate mixture. In this recipe, use 1/4 cup of port and 1/2 cup of other red wine.
CAN I USE MILK ALTERNATIVES?
Yes, you can use lactose free milk or milk alternatives in hot chocolate. If you’re looking for lactose free milk, I prefer to use Fairlife because it does not have any extra sweetness like some other brands.
For milk alternatives, the best choice would be oat milk. It’s rich and has very mild flavor in comparison to coconut, soy, or almond milks. Oat milk does have a little sweetness to it so taste your hot chocolate before adding more sugar.
I would not recommend using almond milk or soy milk because both of these option have a very strong flavor when heated. Coconut milk is quite thin so the hot chocolate won’t be as rich.
HOW TO MAKE RED WINE HOT CHOCOLATE
Set the stove heat to medium and heat up milk in a sauce pot until hot but not simmering. Chop the chocolate bar into small pieces and add it to the milk.
Use a fine strainer or a mesh sugar shaker to sift in the cocoa powder into the pot with milk to ensure that there are no clumps. Add sugar, vanilla extract, red wine, and cinnamon. Whisk everything slowly and continue whisking as chocolate melts.
When milk starts to simmer, lower the heat to medium-low and continue to cook for a couple more minutes. Remember to slowly stir a few times while it’s cooking.
Serve red wine hot chocolate with some whipped cream on top.
MORE HOT DRINKS TO TRY
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Red Wine Hot Chocolate
Red Wine Hot Chocolate is a simple hot cocktail that combined red wine and homemade hot chocolate.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups milk whole or 2%
- 2 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate bar
- 3/4 cup fruity and sweet red wine Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, or Merlot
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2-3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- whipped cream for topping
Instructions
Heat up milk in a sauce pot over medium heat.
Chop the chocolate bar into small pieces and add it to the milk.
Use a fine strainer or a mesh sugar shaker to sift in cocoa powder into the pot with milk to ensure that there are no clumps.
Add sugar, vanilla extract, red wine, and cinnamon. Whisk everything slowly and continue whisking as chocolate melts.
When milk starts to simmer, lower the heat to medium-low and continue to cook for a couple more minutes. Slowly stir a few times while it’s cooking.
Divide hot chocolate among 2 mugs and serve it with some whipped cream on top.
Recipe Notes
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have a slight variation.
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