About this Recipe

After years of consuming coffee or teas in the morning, upon discovering this wonderful Hot Cacao drink, I think there is no finer drink in the morning than satisfies all those morning cravings. Made with pure raw cacao, it has been a surprise and wonderful discovery to finally after decades find a morning drink that satisfies all those crazy morning urges for that hit of coffee! I was the biggest coffee snob out there for years, choosing what I personally found to be the best roasted coffee beans I could find. I was conscious of where the coffee was sourced from, what was in it and drank it black and strong. It was what I salivated for as soon as I got out of bed in the morning. It was ritual, it was the kick start that got me really pumped up and ready to tackle anything. You never could of convinced me there was anything that could take its place.

It was not until my daughter Heidi, came home from an overseas trip to Costa Rica and said that I have to try this Hot Cacao. Hot Cacao is what was drunk there and was similar to our coffee ritual here. Skeptical, but because I also love good dark chocolate, of course I was willing to try. There has been no turning back for me. It has been almost a year now and the craving for coffee has been long gone. I have replaced it with the Hot Cacao and I still get this wonderful energy from the drink but no jittery side effects.

Read the article on How and Why We Quit Drinking Coffee to get more detailed information on the benefits.

Grandmother's Tips for this Hot Cacao Recipe:

1. For measuring purposes, we pour the milk directly into whatever coffee mug we plan to use so we get the exact amount to fill the mug.

2. Since heat may destroy certain nutrients in the cacao, we like to whisk in the cacao OFF the heat, plus we remove the milk just before it gets to the boiling point.

3. If you are watching your calorie intake, read the labels on the milk you decide to use. Some of the almond, coconut, and other non-dairy milks have added flavors and sweeteners. We choose the non-sweetened original almond milk that only has 35 calories per serving.

4. The same instructions above apply if you are using dairy milk.

5. As this is a very special drink, choose the best local honey or maple syrup you can.

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Ingredients

(Print)

Serving Size: One Mugful of Hot Cacao

1 mugful (approximately 1 cup of milk) (we use unsweetened original almond milk,*35 calories per serving and original oat milk) You can use whatever type of milk you like.

2 Tablespoons raw cacao powder

1 Tablespoon honey or real maple syrup (more or less to taste)

Directions

How to Prepare a Hot Cacao Beverage:

1. In a small pot on the stovetop heat your favorite milk to just before boiling.

2. Remove the hot liquid off the heating element and use a whisk to stir in the raw cacao powder.

3. Stir in the honey or maple syrup to taste.

4. Optional - a sprinkle of sea salt, cayenne, cinnamon, or ginger powder.

Enjoy!

Return to this Hot Cacao recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

If you truly want to kick the coffee habit, you can start out but making a small portion of the hot cacao and adding to your coffee. Increase the amount of cacao and soon enough you won't care to add the coffee anymore.

Cacao in its raw natural form is not cheap, but then neither is a good coffee bean. So, keep that in mind when you are purchasing a bag of cacao and thinking "man this is expensive stuff!" Read the research and you'll come to your own conclusions on the value of cacao and cocoa. Here is where we buy these raw cacao powder. For a our special discount on any Vitamin King product you can use the COUPON CODE: GRANDMA

If you are the kind of person that skips eating entirely in the morning, you will feel good consuming this drink instead of coffee. Make an extra cup and put it into your thermos for your coffee break as well.

Cocoa is rich in flavonoids, which in a recent study appears to prevent DNA damage and improve the ingretity of the nucleus of the cells. The reason for this may be because of the antioxidants in dark chocolate that decreases cell stress. In this particular study, other health improvements that were observed were improvements in total cholesterol, triglyceride levels and LDL-cholesterol in the blood, and waist circumference.(1)

References:(1)Leyva-Soto A1, Chavez-Santoscoy RA2, Lara-Jacobo LR3, Chavez-Santoscoy AV4, Gonzalez-Cobian LN5. Daily Consumption of Chocolate Rich in Flavonoids Decreases Cellular Genotoxicity and Improves Biochemical Parameters of Lipid and Glucose Metabolism. Molecules. 2018 Sep 1;23(9). Read more.