My 5-year-old loves to play in the snow. She wants to sled, build snowmen, make snow angels, shovel, etc, etc, etc. And she has more snow stamina than I do. After about half an hour I’m totally done and want to come inside and heat up a rice sock. She stays out until she can no longer feel her hands. Oh to be five again. Every time she comes in from a snow extravaganza, she declares she needs hot chocolate. After all, nothing warms up cold feet like drinking hot chocolate. At least that’s what my daughter tells me. Since I’m not a big fan of the ingredients in packaged hot chocolate, we started making our own. Luckily, it passes my daughter’s after-snow hot-chocolate requirements.
For basic hot chocolate, just whisk together the almond milk, cocoa and sweetener of your choice. For my kids (including my husband), I always use the honey instead of stevia. I always use stevia in mine.
Start on the lower end of measurements and add to your tastes. I use a full tablespoon of cocoa while my daughter prefers two teaspoons. You can always add but you can’t take away.
To make life more exciting (because now that I’m a mom in my 30’s, new hot chocolate flavors really does qualify as exciting), try these variations.
Almond Hot chocolate
- 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
- Stir in 1/8 t almond extract
Peppermint Hot Chocolate
- 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
- Stir in 1/4 t peppermint extract or 1 drop pure peppermint essential oil
Coconut Hot Chocolate
- Make 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate, but use coconut milk instead of almond milk
- Stir in 1 tsp coconut butter
Mexican Hot Chocolate
- 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
- Whisk in 1/4 t cinnamon and 1 pinch cayenne pepper
Orange Hot Chocolate
- 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
- Stir in 1/4 t orange extract
Raspberry Hot Chocolate
- 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
- Smash 3 raspberries in bottom of mug before adding milk. Whisk together with the cocoa powder.
- Heat Almond milk either on stove or in microwave.
- Whisk in cocoa powder and stevia.
- You may substitute 2 tsp honey for the stevia. Just add it when the milk is hot so it melts through the hot chocolate.
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