Caramelized White Hot Chocolate - A baJillian Recipes (2024)

This Caramelized White Hot Chocolate is incredibly smooth, creamy, and has the deliciously rich flavor of butterscotch and toffee!

If there’s one beverage I can’t get enough of, it’s definitely HOT CHOCOLATE. It’s the sweetest way to warm up during these chilly winter months, and the possibilities are pretty much endless. With everything from peanut butter hot chocolate to blackberry hot chocolate, no flavor is off-limits. Well, except for maybe garlic…ew.

A few weeks ago, my life was forever changed when I made my first batch of caramelized white chocolate for my Pumpkin Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream. I was absolutely amazed by how similar it tasted to caramel. It had almost the exact same toasted buttery flavor of real caramel, and all you had to do was bake some white chocolate in the oven for a little over an hour. Of course, you do have to keep an eye on it and stir every ten minutes. However, it’s SO worth it.

So after that incredibly life-changing experience, I just KNEW I had to create a hot chocolate recipe out of this heavenly liquid gold…and this is what I ended up with.

This Caramelized White Hot Chocolate is to-flipping-die-for. It’s smooth, creamy, nutty, and tastes incredibly similar to caramel. In fact, it’s almost like drinking a cup of liquified Werthers hard candies. You know, the “fancy” caramel-flavored candies your grandma used to keep in her cabinets? At least, my grandma always did…

While this recipe does require a little extra time than your traditional hot chocolate recipe, it’s really simple to make. Caramelizing the white chocolate is what takes the longest. It’s also important to note that the quality of white chocolate you use is crucial. It has to be pure white chocolate that contains at least 30% cocoa butter.

Why is this so essential? Well, along with the sugars, it’s that very cocoa butter that caramelizes as it bakes. I’ve had success with both Ghirardelli and Lindt. I would stay away from anything that says “white vanilla-flavored” or “melting wafers”. PURE white chocolate is the only chocolate that’s going to yield the beautiful caramelized results you’re looking for.

To prevent the chocolate from burning, I like to line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Once the white chocolate is evenly scattered over the baking sheet, it goes in a preheated 250ºF oven for about 5 minutes to allow the chocolate to soften. After 5 minutes, take the warmed chocolate out, and use a spatula to spread it out into an even, thin layer.

Now it’s time to actually caramelize the chocolate!

Return the chocolate to the oven for 10 minutes before removing the pan, scraping/stirring the chocolate, and re-spreading it into an even layer to bake for another 10 minutes. You’ll need to do a total of five to six 10-minute intervals to get the perfect caramel color. Don’t worry if your chocolate looks crumbly or lumpy at times–it’ll eventually smooth out the more you stir it. Here’s an idea of how the chocolate should look at each 10-minute interval.

Because I love to live dangerously (not really), I decided to leave my white chocolate in for an additional round of ten minutes, to equal 65 minutes total. This is how it looked.

Can you say STUNNING??

When the white chocolate is done caramelizing, it has the most gorgeous amber-gold hue, reminiscent of caramel. I probably wouldn’t bake the chocolate any longer than 65 minutes since you don’t want to risk burning the chocolate.

Now that you’ve got your perfectly caramelized white chocolate, aka potion of the Goddesses, it’s smooth and easy sailing from here on out. Heat some heavy cream and milk in a saucepan with a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla. I prefer to use a 1:1 ratio of heavy cream to milk since I like my hot chocolate extra creamy! After the liquid has begun to simmer, whisk in your caramelized white chocolate until completely smooth.

At this point, the hot chocolate is ready to drink. HOWEVER, if you want to make it “bougie”, top it off with some freshly-whipped cream and caramelized white chocolate curls! Just make sure to add an extra ounce or two of white chocolate to the baking sheet when you’re caramelizing the white chocolate, so that you have enough for the hot chocolate and the curls. Once caramelized, allow the extra chocolate to harden completely, then take a vegetable peeler and shave off some curls. If you have a hard time getting perfect curls, you can also use a spoon/fork to break it up into tiny crumbles to sprinkle on top.

Every single sip of this ambrosial beverage is heavenly. With butterscotch undertones and hints of nuttiness, you won’t find a more sophisticated and comforting drink than this Caramelized White Hot Chocolate.

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