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Thanks to Wisconsinite Charles Sanna, who invented the first instant hot chocolate you could make with hot water in the late 1950s, we can prepare a rich chocolaty beverage within a minute. The traditional hot chocolate drink, however, predates Wisconsin and Sanna by millennia and is made with melted chocolate or cocoa powder, sugar, and milk and/or water. We found a more traditional recipe in the 1917 Wauwatosa News.

As the recipe calls for melted chocolate, boiling water, and scalded milk, the first challenge seemed to be one of time management and not long into our first attempt, we started to fully understand why instant hot chocolate has become so popular. However, it’s really not that challenging if you first melt the chocolate while letting your water come to a boil and start to heat up the milk once these two are mixed. There is no need for multiple cooks in the kitchen if you don’t want company, but you should have at least 3 pots on hand.

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Although cocoa was available in powdered form in 1917 (see the ad for Baker’s Chocolate and Cocoa in the Wisconsin Tobacco Reporter, the recipe calls for 1 ½ squares of solid unsweetened chocolate. Looking at the chocolate we had purchased, a debate unfolded over what constituted a “square” of said chocolate. Following the rules of geometry, a square of modern Baker’s chocolate would be ½ oz. However, the ratio of ¾ oz. of chocolate to 3 cups of milk seemed off and after cooking up the first batch with this minuscule amount of the arguably most important ingredient, we knew that something had gotten lost in history. A little bit of research into the history of baking, chocolate, and measurements uncovered that the chocolate square has indeed changed and the amount of chocolate making up a square has been halved since this recipe was printed. Hence, 1.5 oz. is the correct amount.

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The chocolate is melted in a water bath to prevent it from burning. For this, it’s best to use a smaller pot rather than a bowl set into a larger pot with water on the stove. Salt and sugar are stirred into the chocolate before 1 cup of boiling water is added gradually to create a very runny chocolaty liquid. The smaller pot containing said liquid is then taken out of the water bath and placed directly on the burner to boil for 1 minute. Finally, 3 cups of hot milk are stirred in and the hot chocolate is ready to be served – with whipped cream, of course. The recipe does say to use Dover egg beater to froth the hot chocolate but no matter how hard we tried, we were not able to get the mixture to foam. We suspect that the water content was too high, but feel free to give it a try and prove us wrong. Traditionally hot chocolate was much thicker than we are used to now and would probably foam a little better. Letting the chocolate and water mixture boil down further and using whole milk may improve your chances.

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If you are striving for a historically authentic experience, you will definitely want to get your hands on some chocolate cups as mentioned in the recipe. As opposed to traditional tea and coffee cups, chocolate cups are taller and much narrower to allow for the perfect heat containment and foam dispersion conditions.

The Recipe in 2021:

Hot Chocolate

• 1.5  oz. unsweetened chocolate
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup of water
• 3 cups milk

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Whipped cream:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tbsp. sugar

Melt chocolate in a water bath. In a separate pot, bring water to boil. Add sugar and salt to molten chocolate and slowly stir in the boiling water. Take the mixture out of the water bath and place it directly on the stove to boil for at least 1 minute.

In a separate pot heat milk. Stir simmering milk into the chocolate mixture.

Whip the cream with sugar until firm peaks form.

Serve hot chocolate in a fancy chocolate cup topped with whipped cream, and enjoy.

Like chocolate and confusing measurements? Try our 1922 recipe for Apple de Luxe.