As a child I was never a milk fan, now if I look back I remember how big a task this was for my parents who would make so much effort to make me do that. I know some of you may say that milk is not all that important, but let me tell you, for parents in Haryana where milk is considered one of the most powerful foods that exist in the world if your child refuses to drink milk this can be quite a heartbreaking for parents.
So they would make all efforts{ read coaxing, cajoling, stopping pocket money and so on}, adding malted chocolate powders, roohafza, cornflakes, almond powder, saffron so many things to change the taste so that both sisters at least drink one mandatory glass of milk.
Later in the life when I was introduced to more flavors and had children of my own I realized the power of that one glass of milk. And how important this glass of milk is to the parent, but this time it was my turn to be on the other side of the fence, and it sure was tough. But there was always one thing that never failed.... Yes, Hot Chocolate!
Chocolate is considered a guilty pleasure and many of us avoid thinking that it is fattening, which it is, but only you consume in excess or with loads of sugars and with saturated fats in popular desserts and chocolate bars in excessive amount.
If you use cocoa in making hot chocolate, it is one of highly nutritious and contains many important antioxidants. In fact antioxidant concentration in cocoa is almost 2 times more than red wine and three times more than green tea.
One can easily go ahead and use pre-mix hot cocoa powders to make hot chocolate, but my main concern always remains other ingredients that follow cocoa in the ingredient list, I am not a great fan of adding those complex sounding unfamiliar names in the things that my family consumes at home.
Do you know one liter of milk provides you the calcium almost equal to that of present in 21 eggs ... surprised ? check this table .
So add the power of cocoa to the super food milk and half of your nutrition concerns for your kids are sorted already, add some natural sugar to sweeten it, this recipe has never failed me with any kid. Considering the great health benefits that milk provides, now I no longer shy away from dairy, in fact, use it as much as possible in many ways.
There are various ways I like to make hot chocolate and add few things so as to add variety ... few I am sharing below.
Sometimes I just make classic hot chocolate and at others various variations of healthy hot chocolate. When I am not in the mood to add any sweetener and making this my meal I add few spoons of mashed ripe avocado to add some more antioxidant power and some healthy fats too.
In this recipe of Hot Chocolate, I added hazelnut paste to give it a rich flavor and smoothness and since sister's kids were around, become more generous with hot chocolate and topped it up with lite whipped cream... excuses excuses 🙂
You can add a pinch of cinnamon over it or may be infusing a small piece of vanilla bean when milk is being heated up for making hot chocolate. One more thing to note here, heating chocolate moderately enhances it's antioxidant properties.
Most adults enjoy hot chocolate too, drink it before going to bed for a good nights sleep. Phenylalanine is chocolate acts as strong anti-depressants and tryptophan in milk is great stress reliever too, so if you are feeling stressed out and sleepless in night, power of these two can make you feel relaxed and helps you to sleep better.
As you have seen my previous posts I am doing a series of recipes using Mother Dairy's milk , this Hot chocolate recipe is made with Mother Dairy's toned milk. Skim milk or toned both are great options for people who like to eat less fat in their diet.
Other Recipes that I Cooked with Mother Dairy Milk
Healthy Curry : Spicy Paneer and Mushroom Curry in Spinach And Milk Gravy
Healthy Hot Chocolate With Richness of Hazelnuts
Blueberry and Banana Smoothie A perfect Healthy Breakfast in Minutes
Carrot Kheer
Mini Frittata
Papaya and chocolate parafait
Broccoli souffle
Cauliflower Cheddar Cheese Soup
Sabudana kheer
Healthy Vegetable Bake
Chia Seeds and Chocolate Pudding
How to make Hot chocolate
Ingredients
- 400 ml milk Mother Dairy Skim
- 3 tablespoon cocoa Unprocessed Dark Powder
- Hazelnuts soaked and grounded to paste { 75g dried weight }
- 2 tablespoon Hazelnuts crushed
- 2 tablespoon cream Lite whipped { optional }
Instructions
- Soak hazelnuts for 2-3 hours and grind into fine paste.
- Take 2-3 tablespoon of milk and mix cocoa powder in it, keep it aside.
- Heat milk and bring it to boil.
- Mix cocoa mixture bit by bit and keep stirring with a steel balloon whisk.
- Finally mix hazelnut paste and whisk the mix thoroughly.
- Remove from heat and pour in cups to serve it.
Trishnanta
What a gorgeous hot chocolate! I love hazelnuts with chocolate. Going to try this very soon 🙂