Get some cocoa powder, coconut milk, and other milk of choice on your way home from work/school/etc. because you’re going to want to celebrate…
National Hot Chocolate Day!
I heard about the holiday on twitter earlier and decided to whip up something for the special event. I actually tried googling to learn more about the holiday, but as it turns out (like it does with many of these food or at least lesser-known holidays) there are multiple National Hot Chocolate Days. But who needs a legit holiday to celebrate something as simple as hot chocolate, right?
That’s what I’m going with…
WIth my newly-found excuse to make hot chocolate, I decided to work up a recipe for something else inspired by twitter – coconut milk hot chocolate. I tried this once a year or so ago when I heard a twitter friend mention it on a particularly cold and dreary day, except I used 100% coconut milk for the recipe. As it turns out, too much of a good thing really can be…well, not so good. The full-coconut milk hot chocolate was just so-so. I found it to be too thick and rich (perhaps because I was using the canned version instead of the carton type?).
Lesson learned. This time, I followed my trick for making oatmeal with coconut milk – I went 50% coconut milk and 50% something else. When I make oatmeal, the other 50% is usually water. Today, for the hot cocoa, I decided to use some rice milk.
And since I was feeling really festive, I also whipped up (literally) some whipped cream for the top. Mmm…
Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate
It doesn’t have to be National Hot Chocolate Day for you to enjoy this cozy drink. Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate yields a tasty twist on this classic dessert beverage. As for making the drink from scratch…For most of my life I used packaged hot chocolate mixes to make hot chocolate, but from-scratch really takes very little additional effort. I made mine stovetop, but you could easily adjust the recipe to make it quicker in the microwave. Oh, and if you’re feeling particularly lazy, you can try skipping the step of mixing the cocoa powder in a separate bowl by putting it straight in the pot…however, I find that usually creates lumps making the extra step useful. And I only used 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder, which I thought tasted plenty rich, true chocoholics may want to add 1-2 additional teaspoons.
Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 1 (but you can easily multiply for fellow chocoholics)
*Vegetarian, Vegan if you use vegan milks and whipped cream*
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (canned), or sub carton version for a lighter flavor or sub other milk of choice if you really want
- 1/2 cup rice milk, plus 1-2 tablespoons (or sub other milk of choice, but please read above story before using coconut here, too)
- 2 rounded teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- sweetener of choice, to taste (I used about 1 teaspoon of agave syrup)
- whipped cream, optional, for serving
Directions:
- Place coconut milk and 1/2 cup rice milk in a small pot over medium low heat.
- Meanwhile, place cocoa powder and extra tablespoon of rice milk in a small bowl. Whisk until a paste/thick mixture forms and powder is absorbed. Add additional tablespoon of rice milk, if needed.
- Whisk cocoa mixture into milk mixture. Heat till hot but not boiling.
- Pour into a mug and top with whipped cream, if using.
- Serve and enjoy once the drink is cool enough to safely drink.
Enjoy!
***
PS: It’s the last day of Eat in Month! Gotta admit…I can’t wait to eat out again! lol
***
Reader question: Are you celebrating National Hot Chocolate Day today? Do you prefer “regular” hot chocolate or a particular flavor?
Hope everyone had a great weekend. Hubby and I had a pretty low key weekend, which was great for me. I’m in serious need of more down time. We pretty much just relaxed, took care of a few things around the house, and enjoyed some good eats. We did get the chance to make it out to a neat exhibition in town – Mummies of the World. I’ve watched a couple historical shows on mummies recently, so it was interesting to see in person.
Anywho, I made something fun this weekend and wanted to share with you guys…
A Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. Mmm…
I realize it’s a bit late in the season (or completely past the season…whatevs), but timing hasn’t always been one of my strong points. I had a can of pumpkin I didn’t want taking up space in my pantry till next fall, so I decided to go ahead and open it for some everyday eats.
I based the smoothie on my Blueberry Pie Smoothie with a couple simple ingredient swaps. Pumpkin was obviously the star ingredient, but I also added one of my favorite, staple smoothie ingredients – banana. I think bananas give smoothies a nice texture and add natural sweetness, so I like to include them in most smoothies I make.
Hello beta-carotene!
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Here’s a great way to use leftover (and healthful) canned pumpkin. I did a play on my Blueberry Pie Smoothie with a new flavor profile. You could add canned pumpkin to any ole smoothie, but paired with oats, cinnamon, and vanilla, you get a more pie-like flavor, which is way more fun.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy or dairy milk), sweetened (or use unsweetened milk, dairy or non-dairy – just also add a drop of vanilla and your sweetener of choice, to taste) – see notes above
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1 frozen banana
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon pumpkin (this will yield a light pumpkin flavor – add more to taste)
- 2 ice cubes
- dash-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste (or sub pumpkin pie spice)
Directions:
- Combine milk and oats in a medium bowl/pyrex and let rest in refrigerator for 5 minutes.
- Combine milk/oat mixture, banana, pumpkin, ice cubes, and cinnamon in a blender. Blend till ingredients are combined and smooth, about 1-2 minutes, or until smoothie reaches your desired consistency.
- Enjoy!
You may also enjoy:
Reader question: Do you only eat pumpkin in one season or all year long?
I realize in this chilly weather that an ice-cold smoothie probably isn’t the first thing to come to mind, but since we’re still in cold & flu season, this one may…
I was feeling a little run down the other day and in need of a big blast of Vitamin C to ward off any approaching sickness. So, I blended up this little concoction to help the cause.
I call it Tropical {Vitamin} C Blast Green Monster Smoothie.
I picked fruits {and some other goodies} that I had in my freezer and kitchen that I thought were good sources of vitamin C: pineapple, mango, orange juice, bananas, spinach, and…wait for it…parsley.
We’ve talked about the health benefits of spinach before, but did you know parsley is a good source of vitamin C? Yup, it’s not just a pretty face…er…garnish.
Here’s a snippet from whfoods.com:
“In addition to its volatile oils and flavonoids, parsley is an excellent source of two vital nutrients that are also important for the prevention of many diseases: vitamin C and vitamin A (notably through its concentration of the pro-vitamin A carotenoid, beta-carotene).”
Tropical {Vitamin C} Blast Green Monster Smoothie
This smoothie takes me to the tropics flavor-wise, but it’s good for you, too. The smoothie contains a few ingredients that are good sources of vitamin C to help fight off colds and the flu: pineapple, mango, bananas orange juice, spinach, and parsley. Yes – parsley! Just a wee bit. I will warn you – parsley has a strong flavor. If you don’t really like it, you may be better off leaving it out. If you want to add some, err on the side of less-is-more. And if you’re a regular juicer, then, you’ll probably think lots of parsley is delicious. 
Total Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 1
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups loosely packed spinach (or sub 1/4 cup frozen spinach)
- 1 small sprig parsley (about 3 leaves) – see note above for suggestions, optional
- 1 banana (a frozen banana will give you a thicker consistency, but non-frozen works, too)
- 5 small pieces of frozen mango, about 1/4-1/3 cup
- handful of frozen pineapple pieces, about 1/4-1/3 cup
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- soy milk (or milk of choice, but dairy may curdle with the acidic fruits), as needed to reach desired texture
- sweetener of choice, to taste, optional (but you probably won’t need it – the pineapple and bananas are very sweet naturally)
Directions:
- In order: place spinach, parsley (if using), banana, mango, pineapple, and orange juice in the blender.
- Cover and blend until ingredients are processed and smooth, about 1-2 minutes (if you need, stop and add milk and blend again until smoothie starts blending and/or reaches desired texture). Taste test and if desired, blend in sweetener of choice to taste.
- Enjoy!
***
How’s everyone doing with Eat in Month? Things are going pretty well on my end, especially since hubby is really into the challenge this year. With my work hours being pretty insane right now, he’s really been helping out with cooking and cleaning. Bless him!
I’ve updated the Eat in Month Challenge post (click) with links to blogs for those who left comments on the challenge page saying they were participating. I added names (sans links) for those who are playing but do not have blogs/web sites. I noticed a couple other people playing who left comments on other posts here on TCL, so once I find them, I’ll get you added.
If you haven’t commented yet, but you’re playing and you want to see your name in the EIM Challenge participant list, just leave me a comment, and I’ll add it! 
Ooh, and fun news on the food front…I saw a neat feature in Real Simple where they did 5 take-out style meals you can easily re-create at home, and I’m working on some of my own so help you EIM-ers curb your take-out cravings.
What are your favorite things to order for take-out?
Whether you really love the flavor of peppermint or you’re just trying to figure out what the heck to do with all the leftover Christmas candy sitting around your house, these Peppermint Snow/Dough Balls are sure to fit the bill.
I made two variations of the recipe – one with candy pieces on top in frosting (pictured above) and another that is more like a snow ball with candy inside the cookie and powdered sugar on top.
The key to both is the use of crushed Christmas candy (candy canes, peppermint swirls, etc.).
While both cookies feature peppermint extract instead of vanilla…
…the first is more like a sugar dough ball as the base with the candy sprinkled on top of creamy, sugary glaze.
The latter gets the candy mixed into the batter and then gets dunked into powdered sugar.
So, it looks like a snow ball!
I taste-tested both…
…and I took some to a friend’s house for taste testing. The result of which version was better came down to personal preference.
Bake up a batch of each and decide for yourself! You can even split a single batch of cookies in half and try both methods (at least that’s what I did!).
Peppermint Snow/Dough Balls Recipe
This recipe makes great use of leftover Christmas candy. Just crush it up and choose one of the two methods below to add it to a peppermint-infused sugar dough ball. You can either bake the cookie, top it with icing, and sprinkle candy pieces on top (this is the method described in the main recipe) or stir the candy pieces into the cookie batter, bake, and dunk the cookie in powdered sugar to make it look like a snow ball (this is explained in the alternate directions below)!
You can even make these well ahead of time and freeze them till you’re ready to bake them, which makes these dough balls great for entertaining.
Inspired by Annie the Baker, adapted from my Sugar Cookie Dough Ball Recipe
*Vegan options listed*
Prep time: 1 hour 30 minutes (this includes 1 hour required to freeze the dough after initial prep)
Bake time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 3/4 stick butter, softened/room-temp (or vegan butter alternative)
- 1 egg (or flaxseed-egg)
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- Simple Icing, recipe follows
- Crushed peppermint candy, about 1/2 cup
- Powdered sugar, about 1 cup – this is only needed for method #2 – see Alternate Preparation below
Directions (Scoop then freeze method):
- Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda.
- In a medium bowl, mix sugar and butter till creamy. (I used a handheld mixer, but you could probably just use a whisk). Add egg and peppermint extract and mix till combined.
- Mix wet into the dry. Note: it will appear there is not enough liquid for the amount of dry ingredients, but continue mixing. It will form into a dough, it will just be a firm dough. See tips on this post (click) for combining. Careful to not overmix. I’ve found pressing the back of a firm, medium/large spatula into the dough seems to work well. Also note: if you want to go with method #2 for this recipe, see alternate directions below because you would mix the candy in here for that alternate version.
- Use a small sorbet scoop to scoop out dough into small mounds. Spread evenly on a baking sheet so mounds don’t touch. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, though 1 hour is better if you can wait that long. I often leave mine in the freezer overnight or till I’m ready to eat them.
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake balls for 10-11 minutes, depending on how set you want your centers. If you use egg, and you’re paranoid like me, you can use a meat thermometer to ensure the centers of the balls are at least 160 degrees F, which many web sites say is the safe temp to eat eggs. The tips should just be turning lightly brown.
- Let your dough balls cool to room temperature.
- Top with a bit of Simple Icing (see next recipe) and top with crushed candy.
- Enjoy!
Alternate Preparation:
- Follow steps #1-4 above. Stir in crushed candy pieces.
- Follow steps #5-6 above. Pour some powdered sugar into a bowl. When cookies are still warm, but safe to touch, dip tops into the powdered sugar shaking excess off. Note: some of the sugar will be absorbed by the cookie.
- Enjoy!
Simple Icing
I’ve tried making this icing with water before, but milk just tastes so much richer and creamier. You’ll just have to be a little more careful since you’re using dairy. If you’re planning to leave the cookies out for a long time, you may want to consider substituting water. Either way, start with the directions below and add additional liquid as needed to get the icing to the thickness you want.
*Vegan options listed*
Total time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon milk (or vegan substitute)
Directions (Scoop then freeze method):
- In a medium bowl, combine sugar and milk and whisk until smooth.
- Add additional milk if needed.
Peppermint-goodness. I may have to actually bake these before Christmas next year!
