Enrich Smoothie
2020-02-24
Oh my, omega it is, our booster boasts a brilliant blend of seeds providing an e...
Soothing Hot Winter Drinks with Spicy Superpowers
Prep 1 - 5 mins
Cooking 3 - 7 mins
Serves 2
What goes well with down duvets and cuddling up in front of a roaring fire? Soothing hot milky drinks of course! Whether you go the dairy milk route or choose a nut milk substitute, do amp them up with a liberal dusting of good-for-you warming spices like cinnamon, turmeric, and cayenne.
We share three recipes to get those hot-drink-making creative juices flowing. Honeyed golden milk – if you’ve never tried it you really need to because it’s gorgeous – and two seriously decadent hot chocolate recipes.
Now any halfway decent hot chocolate delivers not just on intense chocolaty taste, but also on texture – medium-bodied with a mouth-coating richness that is normally achieved by using loads of chocolate and cream. That’s not how we roll, so we challenged ourselves in the Natural kitchen to come up with a luxuriously decadent hot chocolate that delivers on taste and body – without the fat! Our secret? Loads of fat-free cocoa powder, just a teeny bit of intense 85% cocoa chocolate and… corn flour! Trust us, you won’t miss the cream.
What you will need
- RIDICULOUSLY LUXURIOUS LOW CAL CINNAMON ORANGE HOT CHOCOLATE
- RIDICULOUSLY LUXURIOUS LOW CAL MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
- Exactly the same ingredients as for the cinnamon orange hot chocolate – with or without the orange zest, the choice is yours. To this you add:
- 2 tsp corn flour
- A very small pinch of Natural Herbs & Spices Ground Nutmeg
- 1½ tsp Natural Herbs & Spices Ground Cinnamon
- An eighth of a teaspoon Natural Herbs & Spices Cayenne Pepper
- Very small pinch of salt
- HONEYED GOLDEN MILK
- 3 Tbsp low fat milk
- ½ tsp Natural Herbs & Spices Ground Cinnamon
- 500ml low fat milk (i.e. 2 cups)
- ¾ tsp Natural Herbs & Spices Turmeric
- Zest of 2 oranges (no need for anything fancy, a veggie peeler does the trick)
- 2 Tbsp runny honey
- 2 small blocks 85% cocoa content dark chocolate
- 250ml (1 cup) low fat milk
- Sugar or low cal sugar substitute, to taste
Method
# 1 RIDICULOUSLY LUXURIOUS LOW CAL CINNAMON ORANGE HOT CHOCOLATE (Makes: 2; Prep: 5 mins; Cook: 7 mins)
Spoon the cocoa powder, corn flour, cinnamon and salt in a cup, add the three tablespoons of milk and stir until it forms a thick slurry. Heat the milk with the strips of orange zest. Stir in the cocoa slurry and whisk until it just reaches boiling point. Then, remove from the heat and break in the two small blocks of chocolate. Stir until the chocolate disappears. Place back on the heat and add sugar or low cal sugar substitute to taste. (Because there is so much cocoa delivering chocolaty richness, you will need a fair amount of sweetness to balance.) Give it a final vigorous whisk to dissolve the sugar, strain through a sieve to remove the zest and serve right away whilst piping hot. If you have one of those handy milk frothing tools, top your hot chocolate with some low fat milk froth and decorate with a few strips of zest and a light grating of chocolate.
(Cook’s note: the corn flour is what provides the body to this drink instead of the usual cream. Once this cools down, it will firm up, as is the nature of corn flour. So if you make this hot chocolate ahead of time, simply reheat it in a saucepan and whisk in a bit more milk once hot if need be.)
# 2 RIDICULOUSLY LUXURIOUS LOW CAL MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE (Makes: 2; Prep: 5 mins; Cook: 7 mins)
Follow the exact same method as for the cinnamon orange hot chocolate.
# 3 HONEYED GOLDEN MILK (Makes: 2; Prep: 1 mins; Cook: 3 mins)
Stir together the honey and spices to form a thick slurry. Add to a saucepan with milk and whisk until it is just below boiling point. Pour into two small glasses and enjoy piping hot.
Recipe & photography by food stylist and blogger of everything yum, Lizet Hartley: http://www.melkkos-merlot.co.za
