Shake Shack Salted Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate à la Mode

Shake Shack Salted Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate à la Mode

I am strongly of the belief that vanilla ice cream can enhance any dessert. Pie, cake, cookies, brownies, more ice cream - everything is better with some vanilla ice cream on/in/around it. So once I saw the sign at Shake Shack advertising vanilla ice cream in hot chocolate, I got pretty excited. I was willing to make the sacrifice of "hot" cocoa becoming just "warm" or even "kinda cold" cocoa, if it meant vanilla ice cream in my favorite winter drink. In the end, however, the ice cream didn't change the temperature of the hot chocolate at all.
It's occurred to me that it's possible that the way I ate/drank this was different from the way a lot of others would. I started by taking the top off and going in with a spoon, eating all the ice cream. Then I put the lid back on and drank it as hot chocolate. I can imagine that anyone who just let the ice cream melt and drank it all together might have a different experience temperature-wise, but the way I drank it I got nice cold ice cream followed by perfectly hot chocolate.
The salted peanut butter flavor was also great - the nutty flavor made it feel nice and cozy, perfect for Christmastime (which it was when I drank it, though this review is pretty late).
It didn't come with whipped cream, because... it came with ice cream. The sleeve on the cup was pretty adorable, and it was just under $6 for this pretty large size ($5 without ice cream).

Ratings
Taste: 5
Value: 3
Presentation: 4
Convenience: 4

Dean & Deluca Hot Chocolate

Dean and Deluca Hot Chocolate
We popped into a Dean & Deluca during a trip up to Rockefeller Plaza to look at the Christmas lights, and of course it wouldn't have been a Christmas trip without hot chocolate. Like most things at Dean & Deluca, it was a fair bit of money for not a lot of hot chocolate - $3 for only 8 oz. The chocolate was very good, though - it had a taste to it I can't quite place (a similar taste to the hot chocolate from Guy & Gallard, if you've been there). My girlfriend suggests it might just be the taste of chocolate syrup, and she may very well be right. Normally, I can tell when hot chocolate is made with syrup, since I don't particularly like the taste - however, I suspect this might be the difference between poorly-made syrup cocoa and well-made syrup cocoa. Dean & Deluca's is definitely well-made. It's rich and tasty, perfect for a cold winter night! It went very nicely with a ginger snap cookie I bought there as well. The cocoa came with whipped cream on top, and while sleeves were available for the cups, they didn't fit the small size.

Ratings
Taste: 4.5
Value: 3
Presentation: 4
Convenience: 3

Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

I haven't reviewed Starbucks' normal hot chocolate yet, mostly because I already know I don't really like it (I find it too bland) and so the thought of buying some just to review it doesn't really excite me. I am, however, pretty excited about this drink - the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. The salted caramel flavor gives it all the richness that their usual hot chocolate lacks, and a sort of wintry warmth that I get excited about (I'm a big Christmas nerd, so anything that makes me feel cozy in winter gets me all cheery).

I didn't take a picture of it, because for some reason it didn't even occur to me, but it comes with whipped cream and little pieces of salt on top, which is very cute.

Prices vary from Starbucks to Starbucks (there's a pretty significant difference between the Washington suburbs and midtown Manhattan), but it's usually around $3.50 for a tall, which is 12 oz.

Ratings
Taste: 4
Value: 3.5
Presentation: 4
Convenience: 4

Madeleine Hot Chocolate

Madeleine (aka "Maison du Macaron") Hot Chocolate


I'm going to begin with a bit of an off-topic story. I have loved macarons (not to be confused with macaroons) since long before I ever had the chance to try one. I thought they were just the cutest things, all round and colorful, and wanted to know what they tasted like. When I finally found a place that served macarons early last year, I was ecstatic - until I tried it. It was hard, chewy, and the rose flavor just tasted like a mouthful of perfume. I had 2 or 3, and they all tasted stale, probably because they were. I resigned myself to a life without macarons, until one day a professor of mine recommended Madeleine on 23rd, specifically mentioning the macarons. Hopes raised, my friends and I journeyed over after class...

We were not disappointed! The seats are mostly couches and chairs arranged around coffee tables, making it very cozy though difficult to find seating for a group. The macarons are amazing and the pastries are also delicious. If anyone's interested, my favorite flavor is the pistachio-cassis, though I also love the champagne flavors (mostly because they come with gold powder on them).

Pictured: deliciousness

Anyway, onto the hot chocolate. Admittedly, part of the reason I started with the rant about the macarons is because there isn't a whole lot to say about the hot chocolate. It's good! It's not mind-blowingly delicious, but it's good and there's nothing really to complain about. It doesn't come with whipped cream or anything, but it does come in a mug and on a nice silver tray if you get it to stay (and since you won't be able to resist those macarons, those make for nice decorations too!)

Ratings:
Taste: 4
Value: 3
Presentation: 3.5

Cupcake Royale

This is a kind of old review, so it's still from Washington even though I'm back in New York. This is for Cupcake Royale, a cute cupcake café in Seattle. To keep this slightly less confusing I've added tags to certain reviews of the state in which the café being reviewed is - for instance, this Seattle shop gets a "Washington" tag. Instant hot chocolates won't get tags since you can probably find them in any grocery store, and big chains like Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks won't get tags for obvious reasons.

Cupcake Royale


The cupcakes from Cupcake Royale are absolutely delicious, let me say that first. I'm not even much of a cupcake person, since buttercream frosting is too sweet for my tastes.

Obviously, they get full marks for presentation - getting your cupcake and drink to stay earns you a pretty adorable mug and plate, and some whipped cream to boot. The hot chocolate is $2.35 for a medium, which is the size pictured here - and they certainly help you get your money's worth, since the mug is so full it's almost difficult to drink at first.

That said, the taste itself doesn't quite live up to the cute presentation. I was careful to try the hot chocolate before taking a bite of the cupcake, because I know that eating something super-sweet can make a sweet drink seem tasteless... but that wasn't necessary. The chocolate was pretty tasteless anyway, and once I started eating the cupcake, it only seemed more so. I could give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they made the hot chocolate less sweet so that having a mug of cocoa along with a cupcake wouldn't send one into a hyperglycemic fit, but quite honestly if you're worried about having too much sugar you probably shouldn't buy a big cupcake and a medium hot chocolate.

Ratings:
Taste: 3
Value: 4
Presentation: 5

Lily O'Brien's White Hot Chocolate

Lily O'Brien's White Hot Chocolate

Pictured: my girlfriend and some seriously delicious hot chocolate

Ideally, I'd prefer to review this after reviewing their normal hot chocolate. However, I forgot to take a picture or any notes when I had their normal hot chocolate, so that's simply too bad. (For now, suffice it to say that it's very good.) Anyway, their website (and a sign on the wall) says that Lily O'Brien is a pretty big name in chocolate over in Ireland. I believe their Bryant Park franchise is their only one in America, so I should consider myself lucky. Their white hot chocolate is fantastic.

They make their drinks with actual melted chocolate - an employee there told me that if you let your hot chocolate sit until it gets cold, it will actually resolidify into a block of chocolate. I imagine this is the reason their drinks are a little bit on the pricier side - about $4.50 for a regular, or $5 for a large, which is what is in the picture. It's not much more than you'd pay at Starbucks, but their handmade approach makes it much better. This white hot chocolate is fantastic.

I should say that if you don't like white chocolate, you won't agree with me here. Personally, I love white chocolate. And this drink tastes like liquid white chocolate (because that's what it is) - it's incredibly rich, so much so that even with the smaller size (which isn't really small) you won't find yourself more. The large size is perfect for sharing (if you're into that), and best of all, your drink comes with a free piece of chocolate!

The cups are just typical cups, no fancy lid mechanics or anything like that. But there is a sleeve! I'm hesitant to have to rate this down for presentation since it came with no whipped cream or any sort of "to stay" cup, but it isn't fair to boost that grade just because the taste is good (that's what the taste category is there for, after all).

Ratings:
Taste: 5
Value: 3
Presentation: 2
Convenience: 4

Instant Hot Chocolate: Starbucks "Holiday Cocoa Trio" Toasted Marshmallow

Finally it's gotten cold again, and it's hot chocolate season once again! Alright, so it's been cold for a while, and I've been drinking hot chocolate since September - I just haven't gotten around to writing any reviews. This is partially because I've discovered a few really great hot chocolates, and I've been less experimental - but since I haven't written reviews on any of those great hot chocolates, I really have no excuse. Anyway, on with the show!

Starbucks "Holiday Cocoa Trio" Toasted Marshmallow

I saw this at my school's Starbucks and snatched it up - there weren't a lot left, and the "toasted marshmallow" flavor that replaced the normal cocoa trio's "Salted Caramel" sounded interesting. I also liked that the directions called for milk, not water. As I've mentioned, I always follow the recipe given on the box for reviews, but personally I much prefer hot chocolate made with milk. So when the directions call for milk, I don't have to worry about having to drink watery chocolate, and I don't have to worry about knowing that the hot chocolate could be better were the directions different.

Having made it, I'm still curious about the "toasted marshmallow". The packet comes with marshmallows inside (something I managed not to notice until I was done stirring it). Are those supposed to be the toasted marshmallows the name refers to? They aren't toasted by any means, instead they taste like stale Lucky Charms mushrooms. I thought maybe there would be some sort of "toasty" quality to the flavor of the drink, but if there is I'm not noticing it. The hot chocolate is good, though - it's weaker than a lot of hot chocolates you can get at a cafe, but I think that's pretty unavoidable with instant hot chocolate. I should also mention that upon finishing, I found a fair-sized clump of powder stuck to the bottom of my mug - so it's possible that it could have had more flavor than I give it credit for.

The set costs about $10, with a total of 9 packets (3 of each flavor). That's a little over a dollar a cup, which for instant hot chocolate, is a little steep. While I have yet to determine if the only difference between the normal cocoa and the "Toasted Marshmallow" is the presence of a few marshmallows, there's still the peppermint flavor - so at least it's a sort of "sampler".

Ratings
Taste: 3.5
Value: 2.5
Convenience: 4