Chocolate Horchata

Ultra rich and made the traditional way, this chocolate horchata will have you  wishing you were south of the border!

Dish Count – 1 Blender, 1 Pitcher, 1 Sieve This is a recipe a year in the making. My first horchata experience came in Houston, for a girl’s weekend with my OKMH sisters. And man, did we put that ish on everything – even in our coffee! I resolved to come home and make it, but after a year passed it had yet to be made. Until yesterday.

And DANG IT, why did I wait this long?!? Don’t do what Donny Don’t does friends, make this today.

The girls and I have a long lasting love affair with Horchata and Jeanne’s set the bar incredibly high for what my horchata experience would be from then out. While I was in Utah last month, my friend Becky bestowed on me a copy of her and her husband’s cookbook Salt Lake City Chef’s Table – and as I flipped through it I stumbled up Mezzo’s Chocolate Horchata recipe. It was like divine intervention telling me that this was the time to make horchata at home.

Becky and Josh created a beautiful book showcasing everything that the Salt Lake City food scene has to offer. I can’t wait to churn out more of these recipes from some of the best known restaurants in the city.

I went deep in this recipe creating the homemade rice milk and everything. It took a little time but was well worth it. If you’re too impatient to wait four hours for that process – go ahead and buy store bought rice milk. And I’m not known for my patience, so next time, I just might make that switch. This chocolate horchata is tooooooo good to wait!

And don’t forget to season it with a little extra cocoa powder and cinnamon before serving! It’s like a drinkable cinnamon challenge all in one.

OH! And if you’re a rebel, I dare you to add some Kahlua to this… not that I did or anything. *wink*

Print Recipe

Yield: 8 Servings

Chocolate Horchata

Prep Time: 4 Hours

Cook Time: 15 Minutes + Cooling

Total Time: 6 Hours

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Long Grain Rice* See Note
• 5 Cups Water* See Note
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 (14-ounce) can Unsweetened Coconut Milk
• 6 Ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped
• 1 Vanilla Bean, scraped and seeded
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon

*Substitute prepared store bought rice milk for first two ingredients*

 

Directions:

*If preparing Rice Milk from scratch, see below. If using store bought rice milk, please move to step 2.*

1. Place uncooked rice and water in a blender and blend until rice begins to break up, approximately 2 minutes. Pour water and rice in a pitcher and let stand for at least 4 hours.
2. While the rice is steeping in water, place the milk, cream and coconut milk into a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and continue to stir. Once simmering, remove from the heat.
3. Stir chopped chocolate into the hot milk mixture until throughly melted and mixed in. Stir in the sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.
4. When the rice/water is done steeping, pour through a fine strainer/sieve to remove the rice. Discard the rice.
5. In the blender, mix together the chocolate milk mixture and the rice mixture. Do this in smaller pours to make sure you do not overflow your blender.
6. Pour the complete mixture into a large pitcher and place in the fridge to chill completely.
7. Serve in chilled glasses. Dust with additional cinnamon for garnish.

Mildly adapted from Mezzo's Chocolate Horchata from Salt Lake City Chef's Table Cookbook, from Becky and Josh Rosenthal