By: Max Cahoun & Norah Hoglund

During the wintertime, it is very common to have a craving for hot chocolate. But sometimes, you look in the cupboard and you don’t have any packets. Even so, many store bought hot chocolate mixes have loads of sugar in such a small drink. So, to prepare for the colder months, we tried a naturally sweetened hot chocolate recipe that’s much healthier. The whole recipe is listed below if you want to make it yourself, and here’s the link to it: https://www.recipestonourish.com/nourishing-honey-sweetened-hot-chocolate/

Review:

Taste

This was a really good recipe, the flavor of the hot chocolate was very close to perfect. It was definitely very chocolatey and creamy because this recipe uses milk instead of water, like some store bought hot chocolate.

As for the sweetness, it had a perfect amount and was not overwhelming. The honey in it is a very good sweetening option, because you can add as much as you would like to get the taste you prefer. We added a little bit more than the recipe because we wanted it a little sweeter. Another good thing about using honey is that it doesn’t add any unwanted honey flavor, it just blends into everything else because the chocolate overpowers it.

But what really makes this recipe stand out is the vanilla extract. It added such a good taste and a depth to the flavor of the hot chocolate. Comparing it to Swiss Miss hot chocolate, it has so much more flavor instead of just being overly sweet where you can barely taste the chocolate. It has the most pleasant flavor and you just want to keep drinking it until it’s gone. Our rating for the taste is 9.7/10.

Ease of making

This recipe definitely took more effort to make than a packet of store bought hot chocolate, but it was worth it and the taste makes up for the work you put into it. This recipe has real ingredients that you mix together instead of a premade version that is mass produced and isn’t very good quality. For a homemade recipe, it is so high quality and you wouldn’t even be able to notice that it’s sweetened with honey, and it is pretty easy to make, only taking 5-7 minutes. Our rating for the process of making it is 7/10.

Overall

Overall, this was a really good recipe. It tasted really good, it didn’t take very long, and it’s not unhealthy like store bought hot chocolate. We would recommend this recipe to use all winter and share with your friends and family.

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups organic or grass-fed whole milk
• 3 tablespoon cacao powder or cocoa powder (this is the fair-trade cocoa we use)
• 2 tablespoon mild, light colored raw honey (we use this honey)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Add all of the ingredients to a medium-size saucepan, starting with the milk first, then add the cacao powder or cocoa powder, honey and vanilla extract.
2. Next, gently heat the hot chocolate mixture over low heat for about 5-7 minutes or until desired temperature. Make sure to vigorously whisk the mixture from time to time to combine all of the ingredients. (we find that this works the best once the honey has melted).
3. As soon as the hot chocolate is warmed, it’s ready to serve immediately. Enjoy it as is or top with homemade whipped cream or marshmallows!