Salted Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
I KNOW!!
I’ve weaned myself off of that late afternoon cup of coffee. With this.
Oh wait, I also had some of this.
This one’s just plain old hot chocolate, straight-up. That white creaminess on the top, by the way? aren’t dollops of whipped cream – they’re (melting) homemade marshmallows. Which yes, I know, are oh-so-very Martha. And to be honest I don’t have the patience for the cutting and the dusting with icing sugar (I can never cut them cleanly, and wind up a total mess with marshmallow goo stuck to me and less-than-Martha looking mallows all over my kitchen. And myself. And the floor. And the dog. Black-haired dogs and sticky freshly sawed-apart marshmallows do not mix.)
So I discovered if you just drop spoonfuls of the marshmallow mixture onto parchment paper or pipe it out from a zip-lock baggie (in which case you can make Peeps!) it’s far easier and less labour-intensive, and you don’t need to dust everything with icing sugar nor cut them into neat cubes afterward. And in your mug, they look like whipped cream.
I digress. Back to the PEANUT BUTTER HOT CHOCOLATE. (It doesn’t have to be salted, if you’ve had enough of the salted sweet stuff. But it does have to be peanut butter.) In New York we went to a place called the Shake Shack. (Aside: BEST BURGER OF MY LIFE, HANDS-DOWN.) It was an outdoor burger joint, in a little park across the street from the Flat Iron Building, and although they have those heaters on poles distributed among their tables, it was chilly. A sign beside the ordering window read:
Salted Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
Baby It’s Cold Outside
$3.25
Sold.
As if the burgers and frozen custard (!) weren’t stupendous enough, this ranked among the top two – possibly one – hot chocolates of my life. It wasn’t terribly salty, nor sweet, not overwhelmingly peanut buttery. It was thick and foamy and intense and wonderful. And this morning I figured out how to make it.
Oh no.
Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
AuthorJulie
In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and cocoa to get rid of lumps; stir in the water until smooth, then whisk in the milk over medium-high heat. Heat until steaming. Remove the pan from the heat and add the peanut butter and chocolate. Let it sit for a few seconds, then blend it with a hand-held immersion blender. Or for individual cups, divide the chocolate among the cups and pour the warm milk overtop. Whiz with one of those little frothers to make it very smooth and foamy.
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and cocoa to get rid of lumps; stir in the water until smooth, then whisk in the milk over medium-high heat. Heat until steaming. Remove the pan from the heat and add the peanut butter and chocolate. Let it sit for a few seconds, then blend it with a hand-held immersion blender. Or for individual cups, divide the chocolate among the cups and pour the warm milk overtop. Whiz with one of those little frothers to make it very smooth and foamy.
P.S. You don’t really need a recipe for this – you can just lob in a spoonful of creamy peanut butter into your regular (real!) hot chocolate. But whizzing it with a hand-held immersion blender makes all the difference, emulsifying and frothing it up into something much better than the sum of its parts.
Oh my sweet heaven.
PS Love the marshmallow tip! Although, the girls do love the icing sugar mess.
I was so curious after you tweeted this! Yum. I only buy natural peanut butter – would natural work do you think? Maybe I’ll just have to try….
It’s worth a try! I have the natural stuff too, but this seemed like a time to pull out the creamy. Let me know how it goes!
Thank you – what an incredible treat for a cold day. I was salivating listening to you talk about it on the Eyeopener this morning. And I used natural peanut butter with my homemade hot chocolate tonight. Worked great mixing it with an immersion blender. Delish!
are you freaking kidding me? btw i totally stole some cute jam jars from my mom so i could make a jar of hot chocolate mix like you!
Hi Julie,
I love reading your blog and getting new ideas! I was looking for a recipe you had posted a while ago for cupcakes with avocado frosting, but couldn’t find it on the site. Could you help me locate it?
Can’t wait to try some peanut butter hot chocolate too 😉
Julie, you are a freakin’ goddess and I am LOVE LOVE LOVING this recipe. Can’t wait to try it tomorrow – I have that new whipped peanut butter. Mmmmm.
You are so speaking my language on this one……..have to wait until my peanut allergic son isn’t around, but I am so trying this! Do you think it would work with almond butter?
it’s never occurred to me to mix PB with hot chocolate. sounds delicious!
My jaw LITERALLY dropped when I read the title of your post. GENIUS!!
Maybe this will help me get rid of my expensive craving for salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks! Or I could try this without the PB and stir in some caramel sauce and … my brain is overcome with these awesome thoughts!
My immersion blender died and although I have been managing without, I think this warrants a new one!
OMG. Peanut butter hot chocolate. My kids will fall on their knees and worship me.
Holy chocolaty-peanut-buttery-yummy goodness. I think my keyboard is shorting out from my drooling.
This sounds amazing! Could you please post or help me find a recipe for marshmallows?
wow! that sounds so amazing, peanut butter and chocolate is one of my favourite combos, i’ll be making this one tonight for sure, thanks julie!!
Wow, this sounds awesome! Love it. 🙂
This is true original. I agree with Gemma, a recipe for the marshmallows would be great!
“a” true original! Oops!
I don’t like PB so this recipe doesn’t interest me… but homemade marshmallows?! Recipe please!! 🙂
PS I grew up with that same Correll pattern (brown butterflies and flowers) 🙂 My Mom later upgraded. She now has BLUE butterflies and flowers.
I’m assuming the peanut butter is to be added at the end with the chocolate pieces?
I adore the Shake Shack! Just ate there last week and was so so tempted to try this out but I somehow resisted. Perhaps that was a bad decision? I will have to try this out!!
So basically it’s a peanut-butter cup in a mug? You are so evil.
Mwaaa haa haaa..
Jennifer – yes! sorry.
I hate you. that sounds too good. addictive good. curse you and your amazing hot chocolate. 🙂
There will be hot chocolate in my life soon. Oh yes, there will.
Um, hello yummy! And the tip on the marshmallows? Fantastic.
i have good news for all you who are happy about the peanut butter in your hot chocolate…there is more for you as i only have one word to say about this….
YUCK!
I was going to suggest the Shake Shack to you when you were on your trip. I agree…the BEST! We were so impressed we ate there twice.
Julie – Have you tried the hot chocolate at Choklat in Inglewood? Amazing! And its in your neighbourhood!
Couldn’t help but walk down memory lane with my late T-Bone (black lab) in the kitchen encountering disasters and being covered in baking at Christmas. Awwww. Thanks.
Julie, how do you make home made marshmallows, did I miss the recipe here???
Thanks again Julie 🙂
MFO
Monica…they are part of the family after all 🙂
A quick googling turned up http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-marshmallows-recipe/index.html — would this be similar to how you made them, Julie?
Sorry everyone – the recipe is here if you just go up and click on “the eyeopener”!
Ooooo I might just have to have one of those.
Wow!! Just made this for the kidlets after a long afternoon outside in the snow. Holy Hannah it is delicious! I put big spoonfuls of Adam’s natural pb (w/salt) in the bottom of the cup, poured on the homemade hot chocolate and whipped up a frenzy with my handheld frother thingy. My children will now do anything I ask. At least for the next couple of hours, anyway. Thanks for another great idea.
Oh my gosh, I want some of this now. Talk about a combination of everything I love all in one. Oh, mamma!
Thank you! My sister, niece, and I had almost the exact same experience as you did at Shake Shack in early December. LOVED the peanut butter hot chocolate, and jointly decided that we were better off not knowing how to make it. But since you’ve generously supplied the recipe, I have no doubt we’ll be making a batch before day’s end.