Here in Northern Kentucky we had an early dose of a White Christmas. Colder temperatures (it was 65F two days ago, 20s today), some ice and now snow helped encourage us to hunker down for the day, stay in our warm jammies and enjoy a snow day from school.
Tonight, I thought I'd treat the family to some yummy hot cocoa. No...I do not buy packets or mixes. Even if I can pronounce all of the ingredients, it will probably consist of some form of dry milk powder, cheap (non-Fair Trade) chocolate and oodles of sugar. My recipe is not original. I simply modified this hot cocoa recipe to make it healthier and vegan. This recipe serves four, but we divided it into fifths and it was plenty for each of us.
You'll need:
- 1/3 cup Fair Trade unsweetened Baking Cocoa (like this one)
- 3/4 cup sweetener of choice (I used half evaporated cane juice and coconut palm sugar)
- 1 pinch Himalayan Pink Salt (one possible choice)
- 1/3 cup boiling water
- 3 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk (We buy So Delicious Organic at our local Kroger)
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla (Preferably Fair Trade)
- 1/2 cup Canned full-fat coconut milk (This is your "cream". Here's an organic option)
Combine the cocoa, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Stir in boiling water and bring this mixture to the point where it is just beginning to bubble. Cook and stir for two minutes. Do not let it scorch and if it begins to have a strong hot-to-possibly-burning chocolate smell, reduce heat. Add in the 3 1/2 cups of coconut milk. Stir as you heat it to a hot temperature..without boiling it.
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| Yes, we like Disney mugs! |
While the mixture is heating, shake your can of full-fat coconut milk (cream) vigorously. Otherwise when you open the can, you may have a large chunk of solid coconut fat at the top. Place about 1 Tablespoon in each mug. This will help cool off the cocoa so no one burns their tongue.
When the cocoa is hot enough, remove from heat and add the vanilla. Divide into mugs, stir to blend with the cream and enjoy!
**I added 1/4 teaspoon organic, high-quality cinnamon to the saucepan in the first step and it was delicious!**
In place of the vanilla, I think you could experiment with flavors like peppermint, almond or orange and still find it to be very yummy.
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