How to make Mexican Hot Chocolate disks

IF YOU ARE STARTING FROM THE WHOLE COCOA BEAN:

1. Roast cacao beans in an oven at 300F (149c) for 20 minutes. Or place in a large saucepan and mix with a spoon until the skins are browned, about 20 minutes. 
2. Remove from oven or stove and allow to cool 30 minutes.
3. Hand peel the skins off of the beans or break the cacao beans  with a rolling pin and place in a bowl.  You have to remove the skins and the easiest way to do this at him is going to be with a hair dryer. Blow some air into the bowl (do this outside), and you will see the skins fly away.  You can leave some or all of the husk but this adds bitter flavors and they can be toxic. In Mexico many mixes are prepared with the husks on the seed. You won’t ruin it to leave the husks. 

BEGIN HERE IF YOU ARE STARTING WITH NIBS

1. Grind the nibs and the cinnamon stick together. This is the tricky part because I don’t know what machine you will use. You need to get the nibs to look at minimum like a chunky peanut butter but if you can get it to look like a creamy peanut butter, this would be best. Once you have your nibs in liquid form, you are ready to make your disks. 
2. If you are going to use molds and you are not used to working with chocolate I suggest using these molds because the silicone allows for easy release.  If you are a professional, I prefer using something like this for best shine.
3. If you are going to add sugar, make sure your cacao mix is hot, about 120f or 50c. If you do not have a thermometer, heat your chocolate in a bowl, use a water bath or microwave, heat until if feels hot to the touch. But it can’t be so hot that you can’t even touch it. Don’t overheat otherwise you will burn it. Remove from heat/microwave and add the sugar and any other flavors you might be using. The sugar will cool it down. Ideally you want to get it to 84f or 27c. Then you can place in the molds and immediately into the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes until the chocolate releases from the mold. If you are not using sugar, allow the chocolate to cool a little until you put in the molds. 
4. Another option is to hand mold or use cookie cutters: When you add the sugar it will cool down the cacao. This is good and will make it easier to hand mold or place in cookies cutters. In order for you to use this technique, your chocolate should look grainy and hard but not like a liquid like it needed to be for the molds. Grab a small amount with your hand and roll into balls. Or  place into cookie cutters; you must remove the cookie cutter before it sets, you only need the cookie cutter to shape it then you remove it. Once it sets you might not be able to remove the chocolate in that shape.
5. Allow to cool until it hardens then store in a dry, cool, dark place until you are ready to drink. 
6. Your chocolate might turn white or gray, this is ok, just the fat and sugar migrating to the surface. This will not affect the flavor of the chocolate at all.