Hot Chocolate Powder

Our answer

Nigella's recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate (from NIGELLA EXPRESS) derives its name from the addition of Kahlua, a Mexican coffee liqueur, rather than being an exact replica of a traditional Mexican recipe.

Nigella suggests using a good quality, or superior, continental hot chocoate mix or powder for the base of the hot chocolate. This is to differentiate from some of the hot chocolate powders that are available that are overly sweet and not that chocolatey. Since the recipe was written there have been some UK brands that have produced better quality hot chocolate mixes, usually a combination of cocoa, chocolate and sugar. Try to look for a product that lists the proportion of cocoa solids in the mixture (this may be listed as cocoa powder and chocolate in the ingredients list) as if it gives the proportion then it is less likely to be mostly sugar. We would also suggest looking for a mix that has around 40% of cocoa solids (or more). Otherwise you can use finely chopped dark or bittersweet chocolate as an alternative or look for special discs of chocolate or chocolate chips that have been made for melting into hot milk. And we prefer not to use any mix that is labelled as "instant hot chocolate" as these use hot water rather than hot milk.