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?
Put some frozen pastry dough in your fridge tonight, because you’re going to want to make these tomorrow…
Quick Cinnamon Rolls – no yeast or kneading required! It’s true…read on for details – see the end of the post for the recipe.
Frozen puff pastry dough is the key to this easy recipe. You can defrost it however you want, but I found placing a sheet in the fridge the night before was easiest and didn’t really leave me waiting like the “quick” method does. The dough was waiting for me in the morning when I was ready to bake.
You don’t really have to roll the dough out, but I opted to.
Brush the whole sheet with melted butter.
And spread with brown sugar…
…and cinnamon. I thought about adding nuts, too, but I didn’t want the crunchy texture today. If you want, you could add them easily with the brown sugar and cinnamon.
You’ll want about 1/2 inch border on 3 sides and 1 inch on another.
But, it doesn’t have to be exact.
Start on the end with the 1/2 inch border and begin tightly rolling the dough up.
When it’s all rolled up, pinch the end of the dough to the roll to help seal it.
Trim off the uneven parts from the ends.
Cut the dough in half.
Cut each half into thirds.
Just look at all the cinnamon-sugar goodness!
Spray a standard-sized muffin/cupcake tin with non-stick spray.
And here it is after baking only about 30 minutes. Golden deliciousness!
While the rolls cool, you can make the icing. I kept it simple with just powdered sugar and milk, but there are fancier versions out there (just a google search away!) with mascarpone and cream cheese.
Top your rolls with a bit of icing.
You can dollop it or drizzle it. You can even make more icing if you want it extra-sugary. Whatever you do, consider enjoying your “hard” work while it’s still warm (but not too hot – don’t burn yourself!). Mmm…now go sprinkle some flour on your face so people think you worked hard at this and stuff and serve them some breakfast all Martha-Stewart-like.
Quick Cinnamon Rolls {Without Yeast}
While I prefer a yeasty cinnamon roll, with its tender-swirled layers, I don’t always prefer all the waiting and kneading and what not involved. These are the lazy-gal version of the classic cinnamon roll, and frozen puff pastry dough is they key. You’ll have to let the dough defrost, but if you plan ahead, you can put it in the fridge the night before, and it will be ready for you in the morning. Or, you can do the quick defrost recommended by the package instructions if you forget. Do note that the rolls are a little on the small side. I thought they’d be a little larger for some reason, but they were only about 2 inches in diameter. They were small in size but plenty delicious.
Adapted from Ina Garten’s Easy Sticky Buns
*Vegetarian*
Prep Time: 10 minutes (not including time to defrost the dough)
Bake Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 6 rolls (but you can easily double the recipe); serves about 2-3 people
Ingredients:
- non-stick spray
- flour, to prevent puff pastry from sticking
- 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted (follow package instructions)
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon milk, plus additional, as needed
Directions (see photos above for tips):
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a standard size muffin/cupcake tin with non-stick spray.
- Lightly flour a large flat surface (I used a cutting board), and place puff pastry on top with folds/seams running horizontally. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough out a bit so it’s stretched horizontally by about 1 inch…unless you’re feeling particularly lazy and then just skip the rolling out step.
- Leaving a 1/2 inch border on the top, bottom, and one side and a 1 inch border on the other, evenly distribute the brown sugar and cinnamon. Working toward the 1 inch border side, tightly roll the dough up, pinching the seam to seal.
- Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces – I like to cut the dough in half and then cut each half into thirds.
- Place each dough piece, swirl side up, into one of the muffin/cupcake cups and bake for 30 minutes or until the top is nice and golden brown.
- While the rolls cool, make the icing – in a medium bowl combine powdered sugar and milk and whisk to combine. If needed, add additional milk (just a wee bit!) and whisk till the icing is the consistency you want.
- When cinnamon rolls are safe to touch, move them to a plate and top with icing – add a dollop or drizzle the icing over top.
- Enjoy!
These rolls don’t get the same doughy texture you get with the yeast version, but considering the time savings, they are a great quick-fix replacement.
We had ours with eggs and bacon…yum!
Happy baking!
