It’s that time of the year again when your body craves for some hot comforting food such as soups, stews and cheesy bakes and hot chocolate. After a tiring day at work, while I slid beneath the warm and cozy blanket, all I want is some hot bowl full of food, which I could relish watching Netflix. One of my blogger friend who is also a health food expert recently wrote an Instagram post about the importance of food to warm our bodies during peak winters. And it’s mainly because we don’t have central air conditioning or heating mechanism in our homes in India, so we have to rely on our food to give us enough warmth and immunity to survive through these harsh winter days. In fact, I echo the same thought as I’ve been observing this since my childhood that how our food selection and recipes change as the seasons change. In winters we tend to have more hearty grains such as millets and cornmeal bread alongside gingery stews and greens such as mustard, fenugreek, and Bathua etc. How simple yet so beautiful it is that nature has its own remedies and cures. One of my favorite drink in winters is hot chocolate at night before going to bed. And this being my favorite, I tend to make it almost twice a week and so I like to play with the flavor combination and the possibilities. I had this big stash of organic cacao nibs from my last Amsterdam visit, and I was not very sure of what do I do with that. So I started searching the web for ideas on how to use the cacao nibs beside adding them to my oatmeal and smoothies for crunch. I figured that I could powder them well to make my own cacao powder, so I got this idea of making my next hot chocolate with these powdered cacao nibs. And it worked amazingly so well and so chocolatey that I almost felt that I am biting into some very good dark chocolate. In fact, it tasted better than my regular hot chocolate made with cocoa powder and dark chocolate.
- 1/2 cup cacao nibs
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 1//4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- whipped coconut cream
- chopped almonds
- chocolate shavings
- Grind the cacao nibs to very fine powder. Pour all the ingredients for hot chocolate including powdered cacao nibs into a saucepan and whisk to combine everything together.
- Gently heat the saucepan and bring to boil. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes or until cacao nib powder has completely dissolved in the milk to form a smooth liquid.
- Pour hot chocolate in ceramic mugs, top with whipped coconut cream and some chopped almonds and chocolate shavings if you like. Serve hot.