This Hot Cocoa or Hot Chocolate recipe was originally posted in 2013. While it was delicious for sure, the ingredients such as coconut butter can be hard to find and you need to have plant-based milk on hand. Since I was aiming for raw food it often meant making the almond milk first.
Now that I’m living in Tanzania I’ve had to update many of the recipes I used to make when I lived in Atlanta. This updated Hot Chocolate recipe is one of them. I posted this updated version in 2021. Today I’m updating it again by adding the YouTube video. This version is vegan of course, can easily be made raw, and is not too sweet. It’s quick and easy, should work no matter where you live and easily adapts to whatever you have on hand.
When I was little I used to have chocolate milk every night before I went to bed, made with Nestle’s Quick. Now as an adult I quite often have Hot Chocolate in the morning. It’s warming and soothing and starts my day off just right.
Hot Chocolate – Vegan or Raw Vegan Recipe
- 4-5 Large or 6-8 Small Dates, pitted
- 2-3 TBL Cocoa Powder or Raw Cacao Powder
- ½ tsp vanilla powder, or extract or ⅛ tsp vanilla paste
- ¼ inch piece of ginger, peeled
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ – ⅓ cup cashews or macadamia nuts or chia seeds or hemp seeds
- Pinch of salt
- 3-4 cups boiling water
- (Optional add-ins: dash cayenne pepper, ⅛ tsp cardamom)
- Add all ingredients to a high speed blender.
- Blend on high until smooth
- Serve and enjoy with your favorite breakfast.
Give it a try and let me know what you think! And share this with those who you know who love hot chocolate. Share the love ❤️
Til the next time.
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That very delicious drink. I am trying my best to avoid stimulants in my food and drinks. I was told that Cocoa is rich in stimulants
Some of nuts mentioned in this drink are still not common to Tanzania. What if I use peanuts instead of Almond?
Good questions! You should ALWAYS adapt any recipe to your specific needs. While cocoa does have stimulants, I like to drink this to help me avoid the even more stimulants in coffee.
The nuts I use I get here. Cashews, macadamia nuts, chia seeds are all available here in many supermarkets here in Arusha. I usually can find Almonds as well. The original recipe did call for almond milk but I don’t use it in this recipe because almonds need to be strained first (as in you need to make almond milk). With the cashews or macadamia nuts or chia seeds I just throw them into the blender with the rest of the ingredients and they get nice and creamy. I’m not sure how peanuts will work. You can always give it a try and see. Be sure and let me know how it works if you do.
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