Recipes
Mood-boosting recipe: Vegan Mexican hot chocolate with easy homemade oat milk
Jais Tollette
Grateful
In any random survey of everyone’s favorite guilty-pleasure food, chocolate undoubtedly would top the list. It’s one of the most popular confections in the world, with chocolate makers dominating candyindustry.com’s Global Top 100 Candy Companies.
But in truth, chocolate isn’t really a guilty pleasure at all: In its purest form, chocolate is loaded with nutrients. So, in honor of this exciting fact, here’s a healthy version of Mexican hot chocolate loaded with mood-elevating and brain-boosting ingredients that will satisfy your cravings.
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Vegan Mexican Hot Chocolate
Makes: 4 servings
Ingredients
Oat milk (4-5 cups, depending on water added):
- 1 cup rolled oats (gluten-free or regular)
- 5 cups water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1-2 Medjool dates, pitted (optional)
- 1 tablespoon light oil, optional (vegetable, grapeseed, sunflower seed, walnut etc.)
Hot chocolate:
- 2 cups oat milk
- 2 cups water
- ⅓ cup cacao powder
- ¼ cup sweetener (Medjool dates, agave, maple syrup and raw cane sugar all work well)
- ½ tablespoon cinnamon + 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean powder
- ⅛ teaspoon of cayenne pepper (optional)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
Oat milk:
- Add all ingredients to high-powered blender and blend until well blended, about 1 minute.
- Strain through nut-milk bag.
- Store milk in fridge for up to 5 days. Shake well before use.
- Yields 4-5 cups.
Hot chocolate:
- Add 2 cups oat milk and 2 cups water to saucepan with stick of cinnamon. Heat over medium-low heat until cinnamon is fragrant, about 5-10 minutes.
- Once fragrant, remove cinnamon stick and add liquid and remaining ingredients to blender.
- To serve, simply pour hot chocolate into mugs.
- Top with dollop of whipped coconut cream and dash of cacao powder.
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