Homemade Hot Chocolate

 

Hot chocolate is a staple for me in the winter. It helps me satisfy those sweet cravings without wreaking total havoc on my healthy eating choices. When I ran out tonight, it was a problem. It was an especially big problem because I just got home from the gym, I was a hot, sweaty mess, and it was a windchill of 8 degrees. Who wants to run back out in that state? Pinterest to the rescue. I have made hot chocolate at home before, but it had powdered milk in it and that's not an ingredient I keep on hand. I figured there had to be another way and I was right. I found multiple ways. Here's what I decided. I am a dark chocolate gal. I'm at 86% cacao and I think it's divine. Most of the recipes I found had more sugar than cocoa. I wasn't exactly sure how this was going to work, but I knew I didn't want it to be super sweet. I decided to start with a 50-50 ratio. I usually have regular cocoa powder and special dark cocoa powder. I went with a 50-50 ratio on those too. I also added some salt. So what's that look like in my first batch? 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 cup special dark cocoa powder, 1 1/2 t salt.

Mix it all up and use about 2 T per cup of milk. I had more than 8oz of milk and I also used half 2%  and half half/half to add some creaminess. You can heat it up on the stove or you can be impatient like me and use the microwave. If I'm being honest, this is still a bit sweet for me. It's delicious, but when I run out (next week) I'll try it at a 75-25 ratio of cocoa to sugar.