About 2 years after it was published in the UK, Adventures in Chocolate by London chocolatier extraordinaire Paul A. Young is scheduled to be published by Kyle Books USA on November 1, 2011.

Today is the first slightly chilly Fall Sunday here in Montclair and the Aztec Hot Chocolate recipe from Adventures in Chocolate sounds like perfect medicine.

Paul’s Aztec-style hot chocolate

By adding spices of your choice to this recipe, you can create your own favorite hot chocolate. I took the Aztecs’ idea of using only water, not milk or cream, and of cooking the liquid to thicken naturally.

2 tablespoons light muscovado sugar (more if you like it sweeter)

3 tablespoons alkalized cocoa powder

3 1/2 ounces Caribbean 66% dark chocolate

Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, or ginger

Heat 1 3/4 cups water, the sugar and cocoa powder in a saucepan and simmer for 3 minutes. Chop the chocolate into pieces and add to the pan. Using an electric hand blender, blend for 1 minute, adding any spices that you are using at this point. Bring the hot chocolate back to the simmer for 2 minutes and serve.

Variation: For a Mayan hot chocolate, add a pinch of pure ground chile powder, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg to the chocolate while it’s still in the pan. Mix well and allow to infuse off the heat for 2 minutes before serving.

(* Aztec Hot Chocolate recipe from Adventures in Chocolate-Kyle Books USA, November 2011- reproduced by permission of the publisher, all rights reserved)