After a hard day, on cold autumn and winter evenings, nothing feels better than being wrapped in a warm blanket and cuddling with a delicious hot chocolate. But so that we don't have too much of a bad conscience after such indulgences, we have a recipe for you, how to warm up with hot chocolate in a healthier way.
1. Use sugar-free cocoa or dark chocolate.
Sugar is the source of many health problems, but at the same time we don't even realize that it is found practically everywhere (yes, even in salty food, look at the ingredients on a bag of chips...). Hot chocolate will be much more authentic if it is made from real bitter cocoa or dark chocolate, which is practically sugar-free.
READ MORE: 10 delicious facts about chocolate that you probably don't know
2. Give up milk.
Try making hot chocolate with just hot water. If you find the taste too rich, you can add lactose-free milk: say coconut, almond or soy milk.
3. Sweeten differently.
Never add "white death" - refined sugar - to hot chocolate. Sweeten hot chocolate with honey or maple syrup instead.
4. Instead of cream, enrich the taste with spices.
Ditch the cream and experiment with spices instead. Add wonderfully fragrant cinnamon, medicinal ginger, sumptuous nutmeg or delicious vanilla to hot chocolate. Let the flavors spread across your mouth and fill you with satisfaction.
And how to prepare a healthy version of hot chocolate?
Melt chocolate or cocoa in a saucepan and mix with honey or maple syrup. Add water and stir until it boils. Add your favorite spices and add your milk alternative. Heat and stir until really hot - but don't let the milk boil. Don't worry too much about the proportions of the ingredients: add everything to taste and trust your feelings, but at the same time keep in mind the fact that practice makes perfect.
