Healthy Hot Cocoa

It's not that I don't have time to cook anymore, it's that I don't have time to both cook AND blog. But I have promised more than one person that I will try to post regularly.

I have also almost finished rereading Lierre Keith's The Myth of Vegetarianism, and after a holiday week full of sweet treats, I have again vowed to cut back on my and my family's sugar intake, including fruit. 

So here is the first recipe for the new year. It's easy, quick and it will be super-popular with the small set.

Hot cocoa!

...and not just any hot cocoa. With good chocolate, very gently heated so as not to ruin the vitamins and enzymes in the raw, whole milk or, better yet, raw cream. (Yum!) Raw, local honey is added after heating, again, to preserve its nutrients. Technically you can make it with raw cacao, although, to be honest I have often found that the raw stuff has a musty smell that seems like it would be problematic for me, personally, with my sensitivity to molds and yeasts.

Hot Cocoa

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2-3 tablespoons water (enough to make a paste)
1/4 teaspoon organic vanilla extract or 1/8-1/4 of a vanilla bean pod
1 cup raw whole milk or cream
Raw honey or stevia to taste

In a small saucepan on low heat, blend the cocoa, vanilla extract and water into a creamy paste. If you are using a vanilla bean, cut open and scrape the beans into the chocolate and water mixture.

Add a few tablespoons of milk to the paste and whisk well. When it's entirely blended, add the rest of the milk and heat only until it's just a little warmer than body temperature, so that it feels just barely warm on a finger. Turn off the burner and add honey to taste.

This is absolutely delicious with a few tablespoons of unsweetened whipped cream.

Variations:

Using unsweetened baking chocolate.. .melt 1-2 ounces gently with the vanilla, whisk in the milk bit by bit and heat to just over body temperature. (I haven't entirely perfected the concentration of chocolate here and tend to add too much, so let me know what you find.)

It can also be made with coconut milk, almond milk or any other non-dairy milk (although do yourself a favor and skip the soy). It can even be made with water for a more coffee-like experience, especially if you skip the sweetener. Just substitute one cup for one cup of milk.