Healthful Hot Cocoa

 

We keep our house on the cool side in all seasons. It’s warm enough to be safe and stay well, of course, but cool enough for our broken internal thermostats to be satisfied and not sweating. I would rather be a little chilly and throw on a blanket than be melting in my clothes.

Warm drinks are another of my favorite ways to stay warm in the chilly winter months. Most of the time that means coffee, which will not surprise any of you, I know. And as I shared with you a few days ago, I’m on a mission to learn to love hot tea, so I’ll carry on with that experiment as well.

But sometimes a cold Indiana day just calls for hot cocoa. Coffee and tea can’t possibly fill in for good, old-fashioned, hot cocoa. While I would dearly love to always recreate the hot chocolate bomb experience we enjoyed on our monthiversary earlier in January, that is neither practical nor possible. (I don’t have the skills or tools to make them, and they aren’t in our budget for regular consumption.)

I have hot cocoa mixes, but as with all things, I’m looking for ways to make this treat just a little bit more on the healthful side. So, I set out to find one that made me feel better about indulging while also still tasting like the drink I know and love. It’s a tall order to demand of a classic drink: Be somewhat good for me while still tasting indulgent.

For a while now, I’ve followed The Food Babe on Instagram, and I confess there are days when I have to keep her reports a bit at arm’s length, because otherwise I would have to stop eating almost everything served everywhere. But I really do try to learn from her teaching, and she is passionate about the harmful ingredients in almost every single packaged hot cocoa mix out there. They have tons of sugar, corn syrup, preservatives, and artificial flavorings, and none of that is good for any of us. I can appreciate that.

 I hunted around the internet and found this recipe for a homemade hot cocoa free of processed sugars and the other harmful things. I was skeptical! I’ll admit it. But I tried it one day and…I liked it!

I will offer a few of my thoughts and observations:

·         It’s not as quickly made as a package of hot cocoa mix. You do have to heat up the ingredients on the stove, and that takes a few minutes. But dare I say – it tastes a little better because of the effort put into it?

·         Almond milk (my milk of choice) is not something I would sit and drink by the glass like I would cow’s milk. But I’ve been ordering my lattes with almond milk for a couple of years now, and I’ve gotten to the place where I look forward to that nutty flavoring in the milk. It’s noticeable in this recipe too, but once you get used to it, I think it has a pleasing taste – and it keeps me satisfied for quite a while. I haven’t made this recipe with cow’s milk or oat milk, so I don’t know how the taste would change there. (Side note: we have moved to using almond milk exclusively because cow’s milk always spoils before we can finish a carton. I do all my cooking with almond milk.)

·         I use honey to sweeten my hot cocoa. You could use maple syrup (or a combination of honey and maple syrup) if you want, but the honey is sufficient for me.

·         I use real vanilla extract, and while I’m typically of the persuasion that you can’t use too much vanilla, I did try to add it conservatively in this recipe. I didn’t want it to overpower the chocolate flavor.

I don’t have hot cocoa every day, but I do enjoy a treat now and then, and in my opinion, this is a fantastic option! I truly love making my own from scratch – knowing it’s full of better-for-me ingredients, and tweaking/customizing it to fit my tastes perfectly.