Natural Hot Chocolate

We got home from my parents house this afternoon to 10 inches of snow in our driveway.  It was pretty much impossible to tell where our driveway was actually.  Luckily Mark and I are still excited about the snow, so we were up to the task of LOTS of shoveling.  Once we made it into our house we discovered most of the house was 50 degrees, and our bedroom was 40 degrees.  Chilly!  We turned up the heat and this hot chocolate was a great treat later in the evening.

While this hot chocolate isn't low calorie, it is all natural and has a lot that is good for you.  The honey and cocoa powder have natural antioxidants.  The almond milk is a good source of calcium and vitamins.  This hot chocolate is great on its own, but marshmallows make it extra special.

Natural Hot Chocolate

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder (such as Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder)
• 2 tablespoons of honey (local if possible)
• 2 cups vanilla almond milk (if you use original or unsweetened almond milk, you might want to add more honey)

DIRECTIONS:

1)  Whisk together the water, cocoa powder and honey in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Heat, whisking occasionally, until it begins to steam.

2)  Pour in the almond milk while continuing to whisk.  Continue to heat, whisking occasionally, until steaming.  Make sure it doesn't boil!

3)  Pour into mugs and enjoy plain or with  marshmallows.

(recipe adapted from A Couple Cooks)