Coconut Hot Chocolate

In case you live under a rock (or a tropical paradise), there was a blizzard this week. Juno hit the Northeast with a lot of hype and a lot of snow. Of course being snowed in meant I had a list of cold weather appropriate recipes to try including marshmallows and hot chocolate.

It turns out you really should use a candy thermometer or at least not multi-task when making marshmallows. I hard-core burned the marshmallows. I thought maybe I could salvage them and pass it off as toasted marshmallow flavor. However, there's a big difference between toasted and burnt. These were burnt. And by these, I mean the white fluffy mixture that was meant to become marshmallows was actually a burnt caramel, and not in a good way.

 

So my hot chocolate recipe had to succeed and it had to go out there naked. In all honesty, this recipe never would have crossed my mind but I saw it on a Facebook status (it's that simple) and decided to give it a go!

If you don't have Dutch cocoa powder, you can use chocolate chips and melt them in the milk just the same. Traditionally, that's how my mom makes hot cocoa, just milk and chocolate chips. It's tradition, welcome to the family.

 

Are you ready for this? Pay attention because you might miss something. You add one can of coconut milk to a sauce pan and heat it up so it's a consistent consistency throughout. My coconut milk was a little frozen from being in my unheated pantry during a blizzard but generally, you just want to mix the chunky part with the liquid part.

 

Once the milk is thinned, add 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (or chocolate chips of any variety). Allow the chocolate to mix into the milk (or melt). At this point, I highly recommend a spoon taste test. Some people prefer only subtle sugary tastes. The cocoa powder has no sugar so really the only sweetness will come from the coconut milk. For me, that wasn't enough so I added a tablespoon of sugar. Perfection!

Serve this stuff nice and hot and top with marshmallows (if you didn't kill them) or whipped cream. There's just the subtlest hint of coconut that makes this beverage unique.

 

Recipe

• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder (or 1/4 cup of chocolate chips)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar (or other sweetener, optional)

1. In a small saucepan, pour the coconut milk and heat until thinned.
2. Sprinkle in the cocoa powder or chocolate and whisk to incorporate.
3. Sample your brew. If it's sweet enough for your pallette, you're done! Otherwise, add a Tablespoon of sugar.
4. Mix together until everything is incorporated and hot.
5. Serve warm, this will make 2 mugs of hot cocoa.