Champurrado: Thick Mexican Chocolate and Masa Drink
Inspired by techniques from NYT Cooking and Serious Eats.
Masa harina is toasted and blended with warm water, then simmered with milk, Mexican chocolate, piloncillo, cinnamon and star anise until thick and frothy.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Toast the masa. Toast the masa harina in the dry saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes until fragrant and pale golden. Tip into the blender or a bowl and cool for 2 minutes.
- 2
Make a slurry. Add the warm water and blend, or whisk hard, until completely smooth with no lumps.
- 3
Melt the chocolate. In the same saucepan, combine the milk, chocolate, piloncillo, salt, cinnamon and star anise. Heat over medium heat, whisking, for about 5 minutes until the chocolate melts and the sugar dissolves.
- 4
Thicken. Pour in the masa mixture, whisking. Bring to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes, whisking often and scraping the bottom so it doesn't catch, until it coats a spoon like thick custard.
- 5
Froth and serve. Remove the cinnamon and star anise, whisk until frothy (with a molinillo if you have one) and ladle into mugs while hot.
Storage
Refrigerate leftovers, covered, for up to 2 days. Reheat gently, whisking in a little milk. Cool leftovers in a shallow container and refrigerate within 2 hours (within 1 hour on a day above 32°C).
EU nutrition claims
- Low salt: 0.12 g salt per 100 ml (limit ≤ 0.3 g)
Per 100 ml of the finished dish, worked out from the nutrition per serving and the lowest likely cooked weight (about 172 ml a serving), so the true values are, if anything, lower. Thresholds from the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
Caffeine · Free sugars
- Per serving: about 3 mg caffeine (serving: 1 cup). Source: 22.5 g Mexican chocolate × USDA FDC SR Legacy #167999 (Mexican chocolate, 14 mg/100 g).
- Scaling: making more servings does not change the caffeine in each serving; what counts is how many servings you drink in a day. 1 serving: 3 mg · 2 servings: 6 mg · 3 servings: 9 mg · 4 servings: 12 mg.
- General guideline: EFSA Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine (2015): for healthy adults, up to 200 mg in a single dose and up to 400 mg per day do not raise safety concerns. 1 serving = 1 % of 400 mg. EFSA
25.5 g per serving
51 % of the 50 g daily maximum · 102 % of the ideal 25 g
Free sugars under 50 g a day, ideally about 25 g, based on WHO free-sugar guidance (not endorsed by WHO). The share shown is the share of one serving. WHO
Equipment
- large heavy saucepan
- blender or whisk
- medium bowl
- whisk or molinillo
- 6 mugs
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 247 kcal |
| Protein | 5.6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 40.4 g |
| of which sugars | 31.7 g |
| of which free sugars | 25.5 g |
| Fat | 7.5 g |
| of which saturates | 3.9 g |
| Fibre | 1.9 g |
| Salt | 0.21 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
2.3 g High Protein needs ≥ 5 g (20% of energy)
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
