Baby, It's Cold Outside!

I'm from Texas and we are winter wimps!  ha!  I love cold weather but anything below 70, means that we break out the coats and scarves and need a fire in the fireplace.  I'm not sure if it's actually the cold weather or if these things are the reason I love winter time!  Either way, it's the most wonderful time of the year, right?!

Another thing that is a hit during cold weather at my house is Hot Chocolate.  My kids love it, I love it, my in-laws love it (they are visiting this weekend so a little shout-out to them!!), my hubs loves it, so I was determined to be able to figure out how to still have it as part of our wintertime lives, and it still contain acceptable ingredients.  We don't consume overly refined foods and no refined sugars, so my choices were honey or coconut sugar (don't worry, Madhava brand makes coconut sugar in a sustainable way).  This recipe works with either sweetener type and also works well with coconut milk (I use Thai Kitchen brand, but it's not "gum" free) if you want to make dairy free or vegan.

The original recipe can be found here

Here's my version.  Enjoy!



Yummy Hot Chocolate

1/3 c Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 cup Coconut Sugar (or 3/4 c honey)
Pinch of Salt
1/3 c boiling water
4 cups milk (your choice raw milk, whole milk and coconut milk work well)

1 tsp vanilla
half and half or heavy cream (optional)

Place water in a small pot and bring to boil.  While you are waiting on water to boil, in a separate, larger pot, place cocoa powder, sugar or honey and salt and mix together.  When water begins to boil, pour into mixture and set temperature to medium high.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often (almost constantly) to avoid burning.

Add milk and stir to combine.  Heat until very hot (try not to boil).  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Stir.  Fill mugs about 3/4 of the way full and top off with half and half or heavy cream (this step is not completely necessary, but it adds a creaminess, that I really like).