I love hot chocolate, especially when the weather has turned cool, or it's a gloomy, dismal day. What are we supposed to do, though, when the pre-made hot chocolate at the stores is highly processed? The answer's easy: we make our own.
If you happen to traverse the hot chocolate aisle during your next foray to the grocery store, look at the ingredients found in common hot chocolate brands. You'll find corn syrup, artificial flavors, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil, a trans fat. All three are ingredients most of us would like to avoid, particularly if we're going to be drinking hot chocolate on a regular basis during the autumn and winter months.
Those ingredients can be avoided if you don't mind putting forth a little effort to make your own hot chocolate - organic or vegan - from scratch. You will only need five ingredients to make the hot chocolate mix base, and each ingredient is instantly recognizable. No artificial flavors are involved with this hot chocolate recipe; everything is a-la-mode.
Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
makes about two cups (eight servings)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups evaporated cane juice sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, cut into small pieces
- 1 cup powdered milk (soy milk powder or rice milk powder)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
Directions:
- Place sugar and vanilla bean into a food processor and blend until vanilla bean is very finely chopped and well incorporated.
- Strain vanilla sugar through a fine sieve. Discard any large pieces of vanilla bean that remain.
- Transfer 1/2 cup of the vanilla sugar to a large bowl and save the remaining vanilla sugar for another use.
- Add milk, cocoa, and salt to vanilla sugar mix, stir well, and transfer to an airtight container.
- To make a cup of hot chocolate, put 1/4 cup of the mix and 1 cup boiling water into a mug and stir well.
Once you have made the hot chocolate mix base, you can add other ingredients to give it flavor. Suggestions include steeping a bag of mint or almond tea in the mug along with the hot chocolate. You can also make your own spice mix; just add 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, and 1 teaspoon nutmeg to the hot chocolate base. To make a java-flavored hot chocolate, merely add 1 to 2 tablespoons of instant coffee to the hot chocolate base.
Nutrition:
per serving: 140 calories (40 from fat)
- 4.5g total fat
- 2.5g saturated fat
- 15mg cholesterol
- 95mg sodium
- 19g carbohydrate (1g dietary fiber, 18g sugar)
- 5g protein
Source: Whole Foods Market
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