A hot cocoa board is a self-serve dessert for a cold night: a pot of hot chocolate kept warm on the side, and a board of toppings, stirrers and dippers that guests use to build their own mug. It works for a tree-trimming evening, a holiday open house, a sledding afternoon or a quiet night with the family. The cocoa does not need to be complicated. The board does the entertaining.
Plan one and a half mugs per guest, about six toppings, and a way to keep the cocoa hot for the length of the evening.
Keep the cocoa hot
The cocoa is the one part that cannot sit out, so solve it first.
For a crowd, use a slow cooker. Make the cocoa on the stove, pour it into a slow cooker and set it to low or warm, with a ladle beside it. Stir it every half hour or so, because a skin forms on the surface. Keep the lid on between servings. On low, the milk stays hot without scorching.
For a small group, use a heavy pot on the lowest flame, stirring now and then.
A simple stovetop hot chocolate for eight mugs: whisk half a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, half a cup of sugar and a pinch of salt with a little of the milk to make a smooth paste, then whisk in two quarts of whole milk and heat until steaming, never boiling. Stir in four ounces of chopped dark chocolate and a teaspoon of vanilla off the heat. Chopping the chocolate fine on a board before it goes in helps it melt evenly.
Plan about one and a half mugs per guest. People come back for a second, smaller cup.
The six things a cocoa board needs
Think in categories, the same way you would for a cheese board, and fill each one:
- Something soft and melting. Marshmallows, large and mini, and whipped cream in a chilled bowl.
- Something crunchy. Crushed peppermint candy, toffee bits, crushed pretzels.
- Something chocolate. Shaved dark chocolate, white chocolate curls, chocolate chips.
- Something warm-spiced. Cinnamon sticks, a little dish of ground cinnamon, a pinch of chili powder for the adventurous.
- Something to stir. Peppermint sticks, cinnamon sticks, chocolate-dipped spoons.
- Something to dip. Shortbread, biscotti, ginger snaps, pretzel rods.
Six categories, one or two items each, is enough. Too many choices and the board looks like a candy aisle.
The board work: cutting and shaving
A cocoa board has more knife work than people expect, and doing it well is what makes the board look composed.
Shaving chocolate. Hold a bar of room-temperature chocolate on its edge on the board and draw a sharp knife or a vegetable peeler along the long side toward you. Thin curls come away. For finer shavings, chop the bar into thin slivers with a chef’s knife.
Crushing candy. Put peppermint candies or candy canes in a zip-top bag, lay the bag flat on the board, cover it with a towel, and tap with a rolling pin or the bottom of a heavy pan. Aim for a mix of chunks and dust.
Cutting marshmallows. Large homemade marshmallows cut cleanly with a knife dusted in powdered sugar. Cut them into one-inch cubes.
Cutting dippers. Slice biscotti on the diagonal and cut shortbread into narrow fingers that fit into a mug.
Cutting citrus. A few strips of orange peel, cut with a peeler and trimmed into thin ribbons, go well with dark chocolate.
How to arrange it
Put the bowls on first: whipped cream, mini marshmallows, crushed peppermint, chocolate shavings. Spread them across the board so the colors break up. Then lay the dippers in fanned rows along one edge, stand or lay the stirring sticks in a bundle, and fill the gaps with large marshmallows and a few cinnamon sticks.
Keep anything sticky or likely to melt in a bowl. Leave a little wood showing so guests can set down a spoon.
Set the mugs, a ladle and napkins next to the board, not on it. The order on the table should follow the order of making a mug: cup, cocoa, toppings, dipper.
How much to buy
For eight guests:
- Three quarts of whole milk and one and a half times the cocoa ingredients above, enough for about twelve mugs
- One bag of large marshmallows and one of mini
- One cup of heavy cream, whipped and chilled
- About half a cup each of crushed peppermint, chocolate shavings and toffee bits
- Two dozen dippers
- A dozen stirring sticks
For a crowd with kids
Keep a kids’ end of the board: mini marshmallows, sprinkles, chocolate chips, and short cookies that fit small hands. Serve their cocoa a little cooler. Label anything with nuts, so guests with allergies know what to skip. A small handwritten card beside each bowl does the job.
The board itself
A hot cocoa board does better on wood than on a cold surface like marble or slate, because it looks warm and catches crumbs and sugar dust. The WONAMU. acacia cutting board is 12 by 9 inches with a perimeter juice groove, which keeps drips of whipped cream and melted chocolate from reaching the table.
After the party, scrape off any hardened sugar with a plastic scraper, wash the board with warm soapy water, and dry it on edge. Serving on wood covers the cleanup in detail. For a savory board on the same evening, the winter cheese board pairs well, and a cocoa board is a natural ending to a holiday cookie exchange.
The short version
Keep the cocoa hot in a slow cooker on low and stir it now and then. Fill the board with one or two items from six categories: soft, crunchy, chocolate, spiced, stirrers and dippers. Shave the chocolate, crush the candy and cut the dippers yourself, arrange bowls first and dippers along the edge, and set the mugs beside the board.
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WONAMU. makes an acacia cutting board, 12 × 9 inches, acacia, with a perimeter juice groove. Available on Amazon.
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