Hot chocolate is probably my favorite comfort drink out there. It is something I love to have, especially in the winter and the colder months. I feel comforted when I drink it and it is a happy reminder of my childhood, when I would sip it with marshmallows. The only difference between then and now is this recipe is from scratch and I think all the hot chocolate I enjoyed as a kid was from a box mixture.
Healthy Hot Chocolate?
One of the things I love about eating the Wise Traditions diet (a diet that has only real food based on the principles of Dr. Weston A. Price) is there is no exclusion of a food group. Real food is the only food recommended. You can still enjoy all the foods you used to eat, but replace the ingredients with high quality ingredients. You can still have your hot chocolate and enjoy it too!
Raw Milk Hot Chocolate
I recommend using raw milk in this recipe, if you are able to source it. It is the most easily digested type of milk. I speak from personal experience about this. When I consume pasteurized milk, it sits on my stomach for some time. Several years ago, when I began my healing journey, drinking pasteurized milk would make me produce mucus in my nose and make it stuffy. However, I have no problem digesting raw milk. It makes me feel good and I am able to digest it very easily. Trying the GAPS diet for some time helped heal me. Eventually, I was able to transition to a full Wise Traditions diet.
If you are looking to find raw milk and want to research the benefits, visit https://www.realmilk.com/.
Hot Chocolate Made the Healthy Way
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw grass fed whole milk
- 1 tablespoon raw grass fed cream
- 1/2 tsp organic vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp organic cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons organic cocoa powder
- Pinch of Himalayan salt
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Measure out all ingredients.
- Place all ingredients into a saucepan.
- Turn the burner on to medium heat.
- Begin whisking ingredients continuously in saucepan.
- If you want to preserve the enzymes in the raw milk and cream, do not heat the mixture past 117 degrees. If raw milk reaches 118 degrees, the enzymes begin to die. However, if the enzymes are not something that matter to you, you can continue heating the hot chocolate past that point. You may use either a thermometer or your finger to test the milk. I usually use my finger, but if you are making this for other people it would be more sanitary to use a thermometer. The interesting thing about doing this with your finger is once the milk reaches 118 degrees, it will start to burn your finger. If your finger isn't burning, then you know the milk has not yet reached 118 degrees.
- At first, the cocoa powder will not dissolve since the milk is cold. Once the milk begins to heat up, the cocoa powder will begin to dissolve.
- Continue whisking milk until the cocoa powder dissolves or until the hot chocolate reaches your desired temperature. Again, I like to preserve the enzymes, so I try not to let the milk reach 118 degrees.
