Hot Chocolate Mix

During one of our many Covid lockdowns my son asked me one day for a hot chocolate.  We aren’t usually big hot chocolate drinkers as I find them oversaturated with sugar, and sickly sweet.   I always had a jar of hot chocolate mix in our pantry for the “just in case a guest ever asks for a cup”.  

I pulled it out of the pantry and made my young man his drink.  I remember taking a sip of it and was hit with nothing but sweetness.  Way too sweet for my liking.

So, what does one do when they are bored out of their mind?  They read and research hot chocolate powders and blends and mixes. Right?

I read the ingredient listings on a lot of hot chocolate mixes, and I was a bit taken aback with the amount of sugar and well…crap…that is in there.  A few of the “commercial” hot chocolate mixes out on the market tend to all have powdered milk in them.  Powdered milk is not something I have ever used.  Just the words powdered milk makes me gag.

We use two ingredients only, unsweetened cacao powder and coconut sugar.  Nothing else!  We add no chemicals, no fillers, no additives, no preservatives.

Which opened up a whole can of worms as I spent weeks and weeks reading about CACAO and COCOA powder and coconut sugar and white sugar.

I always thought that cacao and cocoa were the same thing which they are… but they aren’t.  Cacao is noted for being rich in polyphenols which are natural antioxidants. Cacao powder is known for being less processed and for this reason it usually retains its antioxidant content when compared to cocoa powder.

With regards to sugar, my family and I are trying to cut back on our sugar intake and the entire world is learning more and more the harmful effects of sugar, so I decided to try and turn to a more natural alternative. 

Coconut sugar also known as coconut palm sugar is a natural sugar made from the sap of the coconut palm sap. There seems to be a bit of confusion with coconut sugar and palm sugar.  These are definitely two different types of sugars, similar but made from entirely a different type of palm tree.

There’s massive discussions and research about “vital nutrients” in coconut sugar and whether coconut sugar is better for you.  Look, I’m not a scientist, I’m not a researcher, I’m just a chick who loves to cook and create magnificent seasoning blends, so my thoughts are sugar is sugar.  Whether it be white, raw, palm, brown, whatever.  Fructose is fructose. Sucrose is sucrose.  I chose coconut sugar for our recipe as I like the colour, taste, and texture of it and ideally, it’s not as processed as other sugars.  Plus, it tastes beautiful in our Hot chocolate mix.

How to use our Hot Chocolate Mix…The best way to use this is to warm up a cup of milk of your choice and 2 tablespoons of our blend in a small saucepan and whisk well to combine until the mixture is warm/hot/ to your preference.  I always use my milk thermometer and aim for 60-65 degrees Celsius and if you like your hot drinks really hot then take the temperature up to 70 degrees Celsius.  I would suggest 40-50 degrees Celsius for young children.

I’ve used this with almond milk, cow’s milk, oat milk and hemp milk and honestly it tastes magnificent in any type of milk.

Shelf life is 12-24 months if stored correctly in a dark cupboard/pantry and always using a clean dry spoon, if it lasts in your home for that long.

Our Hot Chocolate Mix has been a HUGE seller.  It’s extremely popular and the reviews we have received have been out of this world.  Our customers love it! 

Our Hot Chocolate Mix is not only smooth and creamy and delicious but its vegan, vegetarian, paleo friendly, and low Fodmap too. 

When I say our version took many, many attempts to get it to perfection…I mean it.  I truly hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I do.