Champurrado

What to drink

Not poured on screen — but a mug of thick, cinnamon-spiced champurrado is the drink most families actually set out alongside tamales and pan de muerto on the night the film depicts. An honest pairing suggestion, not a moment from the movie.

Champurrado never actually appears in Coco — no character is shown pouring or drinking it. It earns its place here as a serving suggestion: a Día de Muertos spread built around tamales and pan de muerto is, in most households, also built around a pot of this thick hot chocolate, and it's the honest way to round out a watch-along without inventing a scene the film never shows.

Ingredients

1/3 cup masa harina
4 cups whole milk
1 tablet Mexican drinking chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup piloncillo or dark brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
Pinch of salt

Method

Whisk the masa harina into 1 cup of the milk until smooth, with no lumps.
Warm the remaining milk in a saucepan with the cinnamon stick until just simmering.
Whisk in the masa slurry, chopped chocolate, piloncillo, and salt.
Simmer gently, whisking often, until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes.
Remove the cinnamon stick and whisk hard (a molinillo, spun between the palms, works best) right before serving so it comes to the table with a good frothy head.

Beyond the recipe

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