Sweets Craving Averted: No-Sugar-Added Hot Chocolate

Let me say this: I despise diets. I'm notoriously bad at following them. But, really, I'm more interested in understanding why I shouldn't eat certain things and eliminating them forever because of a lifestyle choice. That said, Jake and I agreed to eliminate added sugar from our menu for a month. And we'll see how it goes from there. It's tough to be restrictive, but everything I'd read says that cutting out sugar will reset your cravings.

So, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but Jake does. So, when he wanted hot chocolate last night, he asked if I could manage something without sugar...or honey...or anything like that. I told him I'd try.

You know what? This wasn't bad...and it answered his craving. Success! Just make sure you use as good a quality of chocolate as you can find for this amazing hot chocolate.

No-Sugar-Added Hot Chocolate  

Ingredients makes 4 demitasse servings or 2 large servings

Hot Chocolate

• 2 C milk (you can use whatever milk you want, I used whole milk)
• 1 whole vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise down the center
• 1 t coconut oil
• 1/2 C cacao powder (I used Dagoba organic cacao powder)
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• 1 t ground cinnamon

Serving

• 1 C organic heavy whipping cream
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• ground cinnamon for garnish

Procedure

Pour milk into a medium saucepan and float the vanilla bean. Heat the milk till it's steaming. Remove the bean and scrape the seeds into the milk.

Remove from heat and whisk in the cacao powder, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and coconut oil.

Return the pot to the heat and cook at a very low boil, whisking constantly. It should start to thicken after 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and prepare the whipped cream. Pour the whipping cream and vanilla extract into a clean mixing bowl. Whisk until stiff peaks form.

To serve, pour hot chocolate into small cups and top with dollops of cream. Sprinkle with cinnamon.