Low calorie hot chocolate recipes

Everyone should be able to drink hot chocolate!

Ended up with tea

As usual, I just wasn't in the mood for an off the shelf hot chocolate. So, I opted to try and create a delish hot chocolate made with passion and care by me. My first attempted involved using 1/2 cup of orange juice and 1/2 cup of milk. Unfortunately, the hint of OJ became overwhelming and I couldn't balance it out with Vanilla, Sugar or anything else.

STRIKE 1

My second attempt involved my last cup of heavy cream. I accidentally burnt the chocolate shavings in the double boiler. Immediately, I strained out the burnt chunks to preserve the heavy cream for another try.

STRIKE 2

With the heavy cream from the second attempt to make hot chocolate from scratch, I decided to add a pre-made mixture to the cream. Next, I tried to add a little pizazz with ancho chili. Blah!!!!! It was a hot mess.

STRIKE 3

After cleaning up the messy kitchen, I resigned myself to breaking out the tea kettle for a cup of hot tea.

Two attempts at Blackberry Hot Chocolate & Hot Cocoa

Inspired by a Martha Stewart podcast, I felt it was time to return to the kitchen. Since I had blackberries leftover from our luscious breakfast last week, it was time to create a fruit inspired hot chocolate. Bitter 100% Chocolate by Luker, a Colombian favorite used to make hot chocolate, Mexican Vanilla, cane sugar and heavy cream were the items identified for this recipe.

After the chocolate was melted in my double boiler, I added the heavy cream and vanilla. As the ingredients meshed together it was time to introduce 8 blackberries to the mix. Since my husband stripped the blending mechanism on our blender during a smoothie making trip, I could not properly blend the cream and berries together separately. So, I opted to do it the old fashion way. Once the berries heated up, I gently pressed them against the side of the boiler to release the flavors. Next, I added the cane sugar to taste and a little more milk to achieve a smoother texture. A strainer was used to separate the berries from the hot chocolate mixture. However, little chunks of chocolate were separated also since this chocolate is pure it doesn't melt so well.

Upon tasting the hot chocolate, I felt something was missing. I added a little orange extract which gave the drink a wonderful aroma. Now it was time for a taste from the other half. First he said, “its different” with a pause. Then came,“it needs to be sweeter”. Blah! I cannot stand sugary sweet hot chocolates. Nonetheless, here is the recipe of my 1st attempt at Blackberry Hot Chocolate:

1 square Luker Bitter Chocolate or Unsweetened Chocolate
¾ cup Heavy Cream
¼ cup Milk
½ tsp Mexican Vanilla or Vanilla
1 tbls Cane Sugar or Sugar
8 each Small Blackberries
¼ tsp Orange Extract

Since I personally didn’t care for the consistency of the final product, I decided to try it again with cocoa powder and 1% milk. With the cocoa powder, the mixture blended completely and the flavors came together much better. If I had oranges available, I would have used a real orange vs. the orange extract. The orange extract provided like a metallic taste to the recipe although it smelled quite flavorful. Sounds like a strange description, but that is what came to mind. I asked him to rate the recipe from a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being excellent, he scored the recipe a “3”.

Determined to make a better recipe, I tried the recipe again with a few modifications. On my 2nd attempt I decided to add cinnamon sticks and more sugar to the mix. The two cinnamon sticks and vanilla were added to the warming milk and stirred. Next came the Nomu cocoa powder and berries. Just like in my 1st attempt, I gently smashed the berries on the side of the basin to release the flavors. Sugar was added, but no orange extract.


Blackberry Hot Cocoa:
1 tbls Cocoa Powder
1 cup Milk
½ tsp Mexican Vanilla or Vanilla
8 each Blackberries
1 tbls + 2 tsp Cane Sugar or Sugar

The verdict on this one was a smile and “4”. Ahhh! Redemption.

I wanted normal hot chocolate

The other half and I decided to take a walk to around 4:00 pm today. The sky was grey with dark clouds looming near by. Regardless of the weather, we moved forth with our walk. Soon after we had some spring into our step, then it started to rain. DRATS! When it rains in Texas, it usually is a short, vicious downpour. The other half and I decided to continue on our 30 minute walk with the rain coming down.

When we arrived at home, I knew what could knock the chill out of our socks…hot chocolate. I grabbed two cups of milk, ground nutmeg, pumpkin spice, ginger, a cinnamon stick, pure vanilla, unsweetened chocolate and the alternative sweetener Splenda. This would be my first time using Splenda in any of my hot chocolate recipes. I promised another blogger a sugar free recipe for hot chocolate. So, this would be a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Things were going swimmingly in the kitchen. A little bit of this, a pinch of that…until it came to working with Splenda. Although I am accustomed to working with various sugars, I couldn’t properly judge the amount of Splenda required to make a delicious hot chocolate.

Soon, a creation was born. The flavor was okay, but it had a little bitterness to it that I know wasn’t related to the chocolate. After all that hard work, the other half comes into the kitchen and takes a sip. A silent pause, then he says, “I wanted normal hot chocolate.” Well, at least it took a pretty picture?

Egg Nog for Inspiration

With another holiday shopping event this Friday, a lot of travel with my normal 9 to 5 job, and the holidays just around the corner, I thought I would get inspired vs. just being tired of the chaos.

So, I hopped into the kitchen to mix up a new hot chocolate recipe with a pint of egg nog I purchased from the grocery store. With the egg nog as my muse, I pulled out milk, vanilla, nutmeg, 99% unsweetened cacao from Scharffen Berger, Valrhona Cacao Powder and cane sugar from the refrigerator and/or pantry. First, I heated up the egg nog and milk in my double boiler over medium/low heat. Always make sure the bottom of the boiler is not actually touching the water. This helps avoid scorching the milk and/or chocolate shavings.

After warming up the nog, I added the chocolate shavings and blended continuously with a whisk. My goal was to have a creamy hot chocolate, but not due to the egg nog’s consistency. I wished the mixture to be creamy from the cocoa. Thus, I added a little Valrhona Cacao Powder to achieve the creamy richness I desired. Next, came ground nutmeg and vanilla.

Initially, I planned on adding cane sugar to the mixture. However, the sweetness from the egg nog was pleasant enough. After working out the cacao powder lumps and ensuring the chocolate shavings melted completely, the color and texture of the mixture deepened. Now, I am ready for a taste…not too bad!

I poured up a small cup for myself and the other half. After he took a sip, he said “This is good hon”. For an on the fly, holiday inspired venture, I think I created a recipe for the books.

Egg Nog Hot Chocolate from The Cocoa Lady of Cocoa Connoisseur

2/3 cup egg nog
1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp 99% cacao unsweetened baking bar, chopped
½ tbsp cacao powder
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp pure vanilla

Hot Chocolate for Life

After sharing a portion of my cake my friend made with the baking chocolates from our shelf clean out a few weeks ago, my husband gobbled the small piece in no time. He was disappointed that he didn’t receive a larger piece of cake. Personally, I was thinking “you better be happy that you received that piece because I could have eaten the entire thing.” Keeping the cake in my lunch box for the rest of the work day was very difficult. It required immense will power…I could have eaten the entire piece, but I didn’t have milk at the office. Milk was required to enjoy the full experience.

I told my friend about my husband’s experience with her cake and a few days later she made Frank his own cake. The wonderful bundt shaped cake came with its own little “Happy Birthday” sign. Although his birthday had passed, he could care less.

Now this cake was a white cake with chocolate frosting, while the first cake was a dark chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Once Frank dived in, he declared “She gets hot chocolate for life!”

Exotic Hot Chocolate Ingredients

I am back in California so you know what that means!!!! A trip to Surfas…this shopping trip I came away with Cinnamon & Orange Sugar, Black Onyx Cocoa Powder (Dutch-processed), Palm Sugar from Thailand, and Lake Champlain’s Organic Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (Dutched processed).

My mother surprised me with her own hot chocolate/hot cocoa ingredient shopping trip. When I arrived back home, my mother purchased actual Crillo and Forestero cocoa nibs along with beans from the Madagascar and Mexican Tabasco region.

Furthermore, I received organic powders to create our own exotic hot chocolate mixes including Goji Berry Powder, Butterscotch, Amaretto, Cheesecake, Green Papaya and a few more but I cannot remember their names. Also, mommie got Bavarian Cream, Apple and Black Raspberry extracts to truly enhance our homemade hot chocolate day. We are going to have hella-fun creating hot chocolates and cocoas with these wicked ingredients…