Let me begin by saying I am an Only Child. Despite a big heart and a sensitive soul, I can be a real brat. [Not on the daily. Here and there. But still. Only Child. Where the “O” and the “C” are capitalized no matter where they appear in a sentence.] My beloved (who has two siblings) has gratefully embraced this as the hilarious dysfunction that it is. (It IS absurd that I want to be the one to open the Amazon package every. time. after all. I get that.)
Armed with this information y’all can see how relatively new, doctor-imposed food restrictions might be worse for my beloved than for me. (Hold him in your thoughts for a moment. He deserves it.) The point is, he looked terrified when–on a recent trip in an RV– he realized I could not have hot cocoa.
Let that sink in.
We had a campfire. And cocoa. But Miss Thing over here couldn’t have dairy. Or sugar. Whut?! Yeah, time to MacGyver an alternative. And, boy, did we.
We pulled out two mugs and ALL the stops. The resulting creation is gluten, dairy, AND sugar-free with a rich texture, delicious flavor, and utterly indulgent vibe.
My beloved calls this Liquid Almond Joy–it’s that decadent! Vanilla almond milk, coconut milk, unsweetened cocoa, vanilla extract, and delicious coconut manna.
Served piping hot, this beverage has a rich coconut and chocolate flavor. Note that this beverage uses coconut manna to create that extra-rich texture: you will want an emulsifying blender to incorporate it properly. We’ve had great success creating this cocoa in our Vitamix where we can both blend and heat everything at once. We have even used a Capresso milk frother we found to heat and mix the ingredients.
Hot Coconut Cocoa Not
A delicious, dairy-free, gluten-free coconut cocoa for sweet winter sipping.
Ingredients
- 2 cups organic unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 cup organic coconut milk
- 3T organic coconut manna (see notes about blenders below!)
- 1-2T organic unsweetened cocoa
- tiny pinch of sea salt
- Sugar, honey, or Stevia to taste
- 1/2 tsp of organic vanilla extract, if desired
Directions
- Step 1 If using a Vitamix, combine all ingredients in the blender and run on HIGH until hot and well blended.
- Step 2 If not using a Vitamix, heat the milks, cocoa, salt, and vanilla extract in a small pot. You can add the coconut manna and whisk to blend by hand or transfer all ingredients to a blender and add the manna–cautiously run the blender (watch out! it’s hot!) until well incorporated.
- Step 3 You can add a small amount of honey, sugar, or Stevia if you desire–we love it as is with no sugar, no fuss, and pure YUM.
Interested in learning about the aphrodisiac properties of almonds, cocoa, and vanilla? Check out my mooning over love post!
