The best hot chocolate of all time

The best part about winter is hot chocolate. I think we can all agree on that.

Think of it: You’re out in the cold. Your nose is running. You can’t feel your fingers. And then you come into the house, and someone hands you a steaming cup of hot chocolate. And suddenly you are suffused with happiness and warmth.

And think of how much better it would be to have hot chocolate that is actually homemade. And not only homemade, but the silkiest, most luxurious hot chocolate anyone has ever made anywhere in the world. Ever.

I happen to have two recipes for the best-ever hot chocolate. And what if the cold temperatures suddenly become warm? I turned one of those hot chocolates into ice cream too.

I started with a mug of mind-blowingly good Parisian hot chocolate. The French are widely thought to have the best food in the world, so it makes sense that they would also make the best hot chocolate.

Their secret is a step I never would have considered: They caramelize the sugar. That is, they slowly melt the sugar until it becomes a rich amber in color, turning it into caramel. They add the milk to that — milk, not cream — which makes a hot caramel milk. Finally, they stir in heaps of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate.

The taste, and especially the texture, is that of a smooth, velvety chocolate. The bittersweet chocolate has just enough edge to it to keep it from becoming cloying, and this balance is further heightened by serving the drink with chantilly whipped cream — sweetened whipped cream with more than a hint of vanilla.

I used the Parisian hot chocolate recipe to make the ice cream, and it wasn’t an immediate success. Because the recipe is made with milk instead of cream, the texture was granular and stiff. And although the bittersweet chocolate is exactly the correct ingredient to use in hot chocolate, it is a touch too bitter for ice cream.

So I made batch after batch after batch of ice cream, tweaking it each time. What I ended up with is a base made with both whole milk and heavy cream, with piles of semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet.

The other hot chocolate I made comes from Claridge’s, the ultra-luxe hotel in London. Their method of making hot chocolate is, naturally, brilliant.

First, they make ganache — they melt chocolate (only the best, of course) and stir in hot cream until it is thoroughly blended and sumptuous. Then, they heat a pot of milk.

The hot chocolate is made by mixing the ganache and the steaming milk. How simple is that?

HILLARY LEVIN/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH The sugar is carmelized in Parisian hot chocolate.