Hot Cocoa

Posted December 13, 2009

If I become allergic to cashews -- from eating them too often! -- I will be in serious trouble.

We were decorating the Christmas tree this afternoon and thought that hot chocolate was called for. We like our hot chocolate thick and creamy, so just adding cocoa or melted vegan chocolate to non-dairy milk just wasn't going to cut it.

We figured that the high fat content of cashews would give us the thick and creamy texture we wanted. Boy, did it work well. The cocoa had a slight nutty flavor to it, which was delightful. It was as thick as the hot cocoa on the Polar Express. Well, maybe not that thick. But it was as thick as we wanted it. It was rich and frothy and absolutely satisfying.

Voilà!

Vegan Hot Cocoa -- prep time about 15 minutes, serves 4.

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw cashews

2 cups water, room temp to warm-ish

3 tablespoons cocoa, vegan sweetened (if you use unsweetened, just increase the amount of agave or demerara)

1 tablespoon agave syrup

1 tablespoon demerara sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup whipped cashew cream*

(*If you don't have any cashew cream -- whipped or otherwise -- on hand, you have a few options to get the thick consistency we were looking for. You can increase amount of cashews to 3/4 cup and water to 2 1/4 cup. If you don't have enough cashews, decrease water by 1/4 cup. Instead of some of the water, you could use coconut milk, almond milk or any other non-dairy milk you like.)

Cocoa in pan

Directions

Place cashews and water in blender (ideally a Vita-Mix) and blend on high 'til smooth.

Blend in cocoa, agave, demerara, cinnamon and vanilla. Test the consistency and flavor. Add more cocoa, sweetener, vanilla or cinnamon if needed. If mix is too thick for you, add a bit of water or non-dairy milk and reblend.

Pour mix into small pot and whisk in whipped cashew cream. Cook slowly over low heat until cocoa reaches temperature you like. Don't let it boil.