I can’t think of anything much better than hot chocolate on a cold winter day, especially a snow day! We were recently in Pittsburgh, PA visiting our family, and while we there a ton of snow came down. There’s even more there now! I don’t willingly go out in the snow, but when I was little there wasn’t a better treat than going sled riding or making a snowman with my brothers and coming back inside to my mom’s stovetop hot chocolate. I skipped the stove and just used the microwave here, but if you have a whole family of soy milk drinkers, the stovetop method is for you.
The trick to imitating the best dairy based hot chocolate is using the right milk. Silk’s Very Vanilla Soymilk is the perfect alternative. It makes a thick and creamy hot chocolate that tastes just as good, if not better, than the real thing. If you try to make this recipe with regular soy milk, you won’t get a great result unless you add thickeners, sweeteners, and flavors. So just buy the Silk Very Vanilla if you can drink it. Everything is already added to make it thick and delicious. I know some people don’t like Silk Soymilk because it contains carrageenan. If this is you feel free to use your favorite non dairy milk. I bet this would taste great with coconut milk or vanilla almond milk as well.
An amazing thing about cocoa powder is that it’s natural, pure, soft as a whisper ground cocoa. No dairy, sugar, or anything added. It’s completely vegan. The only difference between hot cocoa mix and cocoa powder is the milk powder and sugar. Add sweetener to the cocoa powder and you have an instant dairy free hot cocoa mix.
Ingredients:
1 cup Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of Truvia (two packets), or your preferred sweetener to taste
Directions:
1. Heat the soy milk in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Stir in cocoa powder immediately after heating. If you’d like it hotter, microwave in 15 second intervals until desired temperature.
2. Stir in vanilla and your choice of sweetener to taste. Add mini marshmallows to the top. Marshmallows are dairy free!