Mexican Hot Chocolate - A Love Story

I love Mexican hot chocolate. I love it so much that I did a school report on Mexican hot chocolate, while living in Mexico. Now I bring that knowledge here.
Two things make hot chocolate Mexican: foam and spices!
Mexican hot chocolate has a distinctive flavour because of the cinnamon and vanilla. Somehow the distinct flavours make the hot chocolate taste warmer.You can see in the bar of chocolate all the granules of sugar and spices. The octagonal bar is the more traditional way that the chocolate is sold but now you can get a powder too. The bar in the picture above is not a fancy brand name one, its a walmart brand. Instead of having 'Ibarra' stamped into it, mine says 'Great-Value'. Embarrassing, yes, but I bought it in a Mexican Wal-mart so that makes it legitimate. Right?
You have to have foam on the top because Mexicans love foam on the top. They like it so much that you can buy cups of chocolate foam on the streets. Sadly, I did not get to experience the chocolate foam cart first hand. This is the stuff myths and legends are made of.
To get the chocolate to foam you have to two options (short of blowing through a straw, I guess). You can foam it the traditional way or the easy way. The easy way is to mix the hot chocolate in a blender. The traditional way is to use a molino. A molino is a wooden stick with rings around it. You put it into the hot chocolate and roll the handle in between your palms. The agitation mixes the chocolate and makes the foam. Supposedly. This takes a really long time and so I have never been successful at it. It takes so long that Mexican children sing a song while they wait. I can't remember all the words but the first line is 'Bate, bate chocolat'. The sentiment is something along the lines of 'hurry the hell up Mom, why is this taking so long?!'

 

Molino and powdered hot chocolate

If you can't find the Mexican hot chocolate bars or powder you can make a version from scratch. It is actually a recipe from Nigella Lawson (but not her Mexican hot chocolate recipe). I don't use measurements when I make it. It involves milk, semi-sweet chocolate, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, the best vanilla your credit card can afford, and spiced rum. Many recipes might add something like this  '(optional)' after they say 'rum'. You will not find this bracketing here. The rum adds to the spices.
Happy Hot Chocolate Drinking!