Winter has properly arrived in New York, which thankfully means so has the Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival to help thaw our frozen souls.
Back for its fourth year from now through Feb. 3, the Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival challenges some of the best bakeries in the city to craft beautiful, innovative and over-the-top hot chocolates using different types of Valrhona chocolate.
At Epicerie Boulud, executive pastry chef Jayce Baudry used Alpaco 66% chocolate sweetened with a touch of orange-infused maple syrup. Not doing dairy? Laduree’s Passionement hot chocolate is made with coconut milk and passion fruit-infused Itakuha 55% cocoa, for a delicately fruity and intensely chocolatey experience.
Here’s the full list of participants in the 2019 Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival:
Almondine (85 Water St., Brooklyn)
Lafayette New York (380 Lafayette St.)
Epicerie Boulud (1900 Broadway, 185 Greenwich St., 1 W. 59th St.)
Patisserie Chanson (20 W. 23rd St.)
Dominique Ansel Kitchen (137 Seventh Ave. S.)
Ladurée (398 West Broadway, 864 Madison Ave.)
Baked (279 Church St., 359 Van Brunt St., Brooklyn)
La Maison du Chocolat (30 Rockefeller Center)
Gabriel Kreuther Handcrafted (41 W. 42nd St.)
MarieBelle Gourmet Chocolates (484 Broome St.)
Brooklyn Roasting Company (all locations)
Levain Bakery (all locations)
Laduree’s entry in the 2019 Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival. Credit: Instagram @ladureeus
There’s a charitable cause behind the Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival
Besides doing the good work of keeping us thawed, the event has a charitable purpose too: 50 cents of every cup sold is donated to Food Tank, a nonprofit that promotes environmentally, socially and economically sustainable ways of farming and alleviating poverty.
Specifically, Valrhona supports The Good Food Org Guide started by Food Tank and the James Beard Foundation three years ago. It’s a free, growing database of organizations across all 50 states that are working to “build a better food system.” People are encouraged to use the database to find more ethical places to shop, green-minded community groups to join and organizations to support.
