Description
This pre-prepared mix can be found in most Latin American grocery stores but creating this from scratch is simple and you can store the dry powder up to 2 months.
Tools: food processor or blender, whisk
Ingredients
- 5 corn tortillas toasted and ground to a powder.
- 10 toasted and peeled cacao beans (better if you toast these yourself which means you have to buy them with the husk on).
- 5 grams ceylon cinnamon powder (small cinnamon stick is better, fresher and you are able to toast it).
- 3 grams annatto (achiote) paste
- Sugar to taste- you can used refined white sugar, brown sugar, or panela.
- Ice (optional)
- If you are using a blender, blend the paste with water then sieve into a cup.
You will use 2-3 tablespoons of this mix per cup of water or milk.
Instructions
- Use this as a base recipe, if you don’t want too much cacao then leave some out. Before the Spanish arrived, this recipe was sugar free.
- Toast the cacao beans until they release aromas of chocolate, about 15 minutes on a grill, constantly moving. Remove from heat and let the cacao cool about 15 minutes. ground tortillas, cacao, and cinnamon stick until it releases odor. You can roast the cinnamon stick here a bit as well.
- Remove the husk from the cacao bean with your hands.
- Place the peeled cacao beans, ground tortillas, cinnamon, and achiote in a food processor or blender.
- Grind until fine. This is the base of your drink and you can store it like this up to 2 months in a glass jar to preserve freshness.
- When you are ready to enjoy, place 2 tablespoons of your mix in a cup of room temerature water, add sugar to taste, dissolve with a molinillo or whisk. Strain into a cup if too lumpy or grainy.
- Add ice (optional)