Italian Hot Chocolate (Dairy Free)
Everyone is ringing in the new year with healthy diet plans, trips to the gym, and lifestyle changes. I’m over here like “check out this sweet chocolate recipe!!” 🙂
I’m not sure what happened but this post was accidentally published on my old website. It’s getting a lot of attention, but this is the one published on mangiapaleo.com. You’re at the right place. 😉
When you think of hot chocolate you probably think of hot cocoa. Curling your hands around a piping hot mug of dairy-filled chocolate drink is what comes to mind. Right? It reminds me of hopping off Santa’s sleigh ride as a Girl Scout and running over to warm up with a steaming cup of milky chocolate beverage. Well, in Italy, hot chocolate is typically a dessert served with a spoon! Yup. A spoon. It is thick, decadent, creamy, and warm. It is very literally hot chocolate.
Use this recipe for the perfect chocolate sauce or cool it into creamy fudge.
If you were to search for Italian hot chocolate recipes on the internet you’ll see photos that look like pudding. In small cups. Confusing? Not really. Italian-style hot chocolate is thicker than what we know hot chocolate to be in America. Drinking chocolate is what we call hot cocoa.
Italian hot chocolate usually thickened with corn starch for its puddling-like consistency. Since that isn’t paleo we’re leaving it out. My recipe calls for arrowroot powder instead. If you’re simply making a chocolate dipping sauce then you can omit the arrowroot powder if you wish.
The more decadent and rich, the better!
- 1.5 cup Dairy Free Chocolate Chips I use Enjoy Life which contains sugar so for strict paleo you may also use 1.5 bar bittersweet chocolate with 1/3 cup coconut palm sugar or maple sugar
- 1 can coconut milk full fat
- 1 tsp arrowroot powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch sea salt
- In a small saucepan dissolve arrowroot powder in coconut milk on low heat. Stir vigorously to be sure the powder is fully dissolved.
- Add vanilla and whisk until milk is dissolved to liquid.
- Add chocolate chunks and lower the heat to lowest setting or "melt". Stir often with a spoon so the chocolate chunks don't get stuck in the whisk. Keep an eye on it to make sure the chocolate melts evenly. About 10-15 minutes. Add salt and cinnamon and whisk evenly.
- Serve hot in 2 ounce cups (espresso cups work well). See below for serving suggestion.
Serve chocolate in about 3 ounce cups with a small spoon. Sprinkle with cinnamon. This is not meant for drinking or consuming in large quantities. Believe it or not, this giant mug as pictured is not one serving. But if you eat it all that’s none of my business.
