Honey Coco

It's almost May in California, and after a week of sunshine and 85° it is funny how it only takes one cool, rainy day to make you want comfort food.

My mind automatically went to hot coco. I love milk and a warm chocolatey drink sounded like just the thing to get me through the day. But then I ran into the dilemma of "Do you really want to drink that much sugar?" Over the last few years I have been trying to cut out refined sugars- decreasing them when I can and substituting them when possible. I'm not a big sweets eater, so normally I would have ignored my conscious and had a cozy sugar filled coco. BUT today was different. Today I had just been talking to my mom about a new movie coming out called "Fed Up", which focuses on how modern food is killing us. The focus of the movie is SUGAR. (Check out the trailer below, and watch the movie when it comes out!) So today I couldn't let myself indulge.

I pouted at my nutritionist guardian angel for a moment, what was I going to eat that would fill that craving? Then it dawned on me to use my favorite sugar substitute: HONEY! How I have never thought of this before is a mystery because it worked perfectly and tasted great!

In fact, honey worked better with raw cocoa powder than sugar does. I always struggle to make "homemade" hot coco because I can never get all of the powder to dissolve, but with the honey that wasn't a problem. You'll also see a little cream added, don't skip this, because I believe it's the fat that helps combine and dissolve the cocoa, whereas the water in milk repels it. 

Honey Coco:

1 spoonful of honey

1 heaping spoonful of cocoa powder

1 Tbsp cream

8 oz Milk (Whole, of course)

I used a regular kitchen spoon to roughly measure; you'll want to customize your measurements to your taste. Mix the honey, cocoa, and cream together in your mug. You should get a nice smooth and creamy fudge. Add only a couple ounces of milk so you can mix vigorously to ensure a smooth mixture, scrape the corners of your mug to make sure you have incorporated all of the "fudge". Add the rest of your milk and pop in the microwave. (You could of course heat the milk on the stove and add it slowly in the same manner.) 

On another day, I think I will try using this "fudge" base as hot fudge on ice cream :)

Still a sweet treat, but one I can enjoy with a little less guilt.  Enjoy!