Homebrew Underground

Here’s an unusual recipe for cocoa. I call it "fortified" cocoa. It is made by saving the cocoa and vodka paste from a batch of chocolate liqueur or coffee liqueur. You can also try to repurpose the cocoa paste in other recipes. I have tried repurposing the cocoa in some brownies I made, but it was not successful. It wasn’t so good in the brownies but it was good enough for this fortified cocoa recipe. The trouble is that most of the flavor gets infused into the liqueur and the remaining cocoa is weak.

Save the cocoa paste from a batch of chocolate liqueur or tropical coffee liqueur. In the filtering step I will use a paper towel as the filter.

Just "roll" it off the paper towel and save it in a glass or cup and cover with plastic wrap.

Add milk, sugar, salt, water and cocoa paste to a sauce pan. Stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve cocoa paste. When the color is uniform light brown, heat over a low flame until it is hot but not boiling.

Stir frequently to prevent scorching. Turn off flame, add vanilla extract, stir and serve hot.