When the weather gets cold I start craving warming foods and drinks. Teas, hot apple cider, roasted veggies, apple porridge, these all excite me in the winter time!
One of my favourite warming drinks is Hot Chocolate! Who doesn’t love a hot cup of warm and delicious chocolate?
Now when I say Chocolate, what I’m referring to isn’t some tiny packet full of artificial sugars and poor quality chocolate. I’m referring to real, raw cacao. A magical superfood loaded with minerals and antioxidants. You can find cacao in powder form or in it’s original buttery form! We’ll be using both in this recipe.
Cacao is loaded with magnesium which is a mineral many of us are deficient in due to our soil being depleted in it. Magnesium is an important mineral needed for detoxification, plus it helps to ease muscle soreness.
A great thing about this recipe is that you can use any leftover cacao butter as a moisturizer for your skin! Simply keep a piece of cacao butter in a small mason jar in your bathroom, and after a shower, rub the butter between your hands to melt it and apply it directly to your skin. Its loaded with essential fats which help to moisturize and nourish the skin. Bonus! 🙂
Now onto the Best Hot Chocolate Recipe Ever! After browsing through the liquor store looking for an organic wine to bring to a party, I came across Chartreuse. Are you familiar with Chartreuse? I remember drinking this incredible herbal concoction during my herbalist classes. Our Herbalist would mix it up in hot chocolate and have us drink it! It was warming, delicious and yes, contains alcohol! What’s not too like?
Chartreuse is the only liqueur in the world with a completely natural colour! No artificial colorants in this blend! It’s truly a powerful and unique blend with over 130+ plants and flowers. 
Now, I don’t typically promote alcohol on my site, nor do I even drink it regularly, however… this is a little different. The herbalist in me gets excited at the thought of Chartreuse. Only 2 Chartreuse monks used to know the identity of the 130 plants, how to blend them, distill them and supervise the slow aging process in oak casks. The history of this liqueur is quite something!
So now… onto the Hot Chocolate! As I’m sure you’ve probably guessed… we’ll be adding in this incredible liqueur. It takes Hot chocolate to a whole other level!
- 2 cups boiling hot water
- 1 cup almond milk, hot (heated up on the stove)
- 2 inch piece raw cacao butter
- 2 tbsp cacao powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla powder (optional)
- 1 tbsp raw honey
- 1 ounce Chartreuse (or more!)
- Add boiling water to a blender and add in cacao butter. The hot water will melt the butter. Give it a minute or so to melt. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend on high until well combined. Serve hot!
- Coconut milk would work well in this recipe too!
- Also, you can try using coconut sugar or maple syrup instead of raw honey.
