Recipe for an old-fashioned egg cream or “fizzy iced chocolate”, the perfect cold beverage on a hot summer day. Made with fruit-sweetened chocolate syrup for a naturally low-carb treat.
So there I was, standing in line at the grocery store.
Ho-hum.
The elderly gentleman in front of me was obviously bored with the long line too. After a few minutes, he turned around and began to eye my shopping cart.
There wasn’t much to see as I don’t buy a whole lot at the grocery store. There was a bag of organic Fuji apples, sparkling water, and several bags of Epsom salts.
Yes, just about one of the most boring shopping carts you’ve ever laid eyes on.
This gentleman fixes his gaze on the sparkling water bottles and starts telling me a story about when he was a child in Queens, New York, and this yummy drink he and his brothers made out of club soda.
Curious, I asked him what kind of a drink he made.
What is Fizzy Iced Chocolate?
With a twinkle in his eye, he told me that they mixed club soda, milk, and chocolate syrup and that it tasted so great on a hot summer day. He went on to describe how quality food was hard to come by, and this drink made the milk stretch a bit further during the Depression.
Even more curious as this beverage did not sound particularly yummy to me, I asked how much club soda and milk were used.
He said the drink was mostly club soda with just a bit of milk and chocolate syrup.
He assured me that my kids would love it and that I should try it.
Later that day, I made some exactly as described and gave some to my boys to try. They loved it and agreed it was very refreshing in the summer heat.
We decided to name it fizzy iced chocolate. In other areas of the country, it is apparently known simply as “egg cream”.
I recommend using homemade fruit-sweetened chocolate syrup for this recipe. If you decide to buy, it is best to choose organic. This avoids the GMO white beet sugar in conventional brands (labeled as “sugar”).
This is a fun choice to make if you are out of homemade kombucha tea or other types of cultured beverages and want something bubbly and flavorful to enjoy.
Traditional Egg Cream Recipe (with nondairy option)
This recipe for an old-fashined egg cream, or fizzy iced chocolate, is the perfect refresher in hot weather.
Ingredients
- 6 ounces (177 ml) sparkling spring water or plain seltzer
- 2 ounces (59 ml) whole milk
- 1 tsp chocolate syrup
Instructions
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Mix all ingredients together in a large glass.
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Stir and serve very cold. Add ice if desired.
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Refrigerate leftovers (if there are any!).
Recipe Notes
Substitute store bought or homemade coconut milk for dairy milk for a nondairy egg cream if desired.
In UK – found date molasses,, is this suitable to substitute for date syrup?
On the recipe for homemade sugar-free chocolate syrup you state 1 tsp. cocoa powder preferably roasted and organic, but yet when you click on the cocoa powder you get Radiant Life cacao powder. Forgive my ignorance but is cocoa and cacao the same?
Thanks for any clarification.
Your friend-Michele
They are the same for cooking purposes. If you are sensitive to oxalates (of which cocoa contains quite a bit), then choose cocoa powder instead as it is roasted and lower in the oxalates. Cacao will have a bit of a richer flavor in my opinion. I wish I could link to more than one brand in the recipes!
To make your own chocolate syrup try mixing about equal parts of maple syrup and cacao powder. This takes a little time of mixing and letting it sit to get rid of all the dry lumps. Maybe a mini blender would help. I usually make small portions and store short term in the fridge. If you want it thicker, use some honey in place of some of the maple syrup, but honey doesn’t mix as well.
I grew up drinking egg creams in NYC. The reason why they call it egg cream, is when the drink was first invented, they put an egg in it to make the top foamy from the egg white, but that was a long time ago, way before I started drinking them.
I have been making this for years. I only drink one glass yearly. They are delicious and just the thing when you have a sweet tooth.
I was at the grocery the other day and an elderly gentleman asked me how I stayed so thin 🙂 I told him “eating lots of butter” and he smiled. Come to find out, he was familiar with WAPF! It’s always fun to meet new folks at the store…
Oh, and check out my latest post on another cold drink- Kombucha Slushies! Enjoy 🙂
I enjoyed my own vaguely similar drinkable treat just this afternoon — raw homemade Bulgarian yogurt with a spoonful of mineral-rich blackstrap molasses mixed in. It was heavenly!!
I think some of us had this kind of drink in Manila. Listing the ingredients down made us think of the 80’s here, when an ice cream company had its own restaurant.
Canfields Cola Company in Chicago used to have the same sort of beverage, in a can… Chocolate Soda. It was SOOOO good, and came in regular and diet – of course, these were treats before my conversion 🙂
Hi Sarah,
Is carbonated water safe to drink on a regular basis? …I really hope it is as I love it!