You guys know how much I love developing healthier alternatives for classic treats. I’ve literally grown up on hot chocolate. Back in my school days, I had a cup every morning. As you can guess, it did not feature any superfoods and was certainly not sweetened with dates. The hot chocolate I enjoyed back then was a simple mixture of cacao powder, white sugar and whole-fat milk.

10 years later…

Fast forward 10 years – I still love hot chocolate but I have learned that there is no need for animal products and refined sugar to treat myself. This hot chocolate recipe is based on hazelnut milk – of course you could use any other plant-based milk – dates, sugar-free chocolate chips and plain cacao powder.

You know what’s the best thing about this recipe? It’s easy. And I mean really easy. Apart from boiling water in a kettle it only requires one step: blending. If you follow the instructions carefully, you’ll be pouring a perfectly temperatured beverage into your cup in no time. Of course, you could use a saucepan and your stove but that would take longer. Apart from that, you can’t shred dates in a saucepan.

You can, however, use date sugar or date sirup and make it in a saucepan if you don’t have a blender. Just bring everything to boil, stir well and pour into a cup as soon as the chocolate chips have dissolved.

Dates – my favourite sweetener

To be honest, I couldn’t imagine a life without dates anymore. I use them as a sweetener in raw cakes, dip them into nut butter or chop them up to replace sugar in porridge. This date caramel is my staple sweetener at the moment. I always keep a batch in the fridge and mix it into my sweet dishes and desserts. Since I have discovered dates, I have never had cravings for refined sugar anymore. Nature is awesome!

Be your own cow

Did you know you could easily make your own milk with just blender and a kitchen cloth? My blender even came with a nut milk bag so I’ve used it a few times to make my own nut milk. If you like to save money and packaging, I can totally recommend getting a nut milk bag for making homemade milk (or „mylk“, not to be mistaken).

Fun fact: Although it’s called nut milk bag, you can as well use it to make oat milk, rice milk, soy milk and all other types of plant-based milk.

This cashew milk tutorial is just an example of how you could manufacture and flavour your own plant milk. The soaking part is optional but very recommended. There are several reasons for soaking nuts ranging from increased nutritional value to flavour. For my hot chocolate, I love to use fresh hazelnut milk made from roasted hazelnuts.

Hot Chocolate for two, please

What’s better than hot chocolate? Right, sharing a cup of hot choc with someone you love. If you’re making this recipe for a friend or a special someone, simply double the ingredients to fill two large cups.

Extra tip: Fill your hot choc into a thermos and enjoy it while cuddling up & watching a movie of your choice.

If you’re already having your next Netflix & Chill session in mind, make sure to come back for this recipe. Hot chocolate is like liquid happiness for your soul and it goes together with a movie night like peanut butter and jelly.

Tried it out? Make sure to tag me on Instagram and use the hashtag #HealthyFairyFood or simply tag @laurafruitfairy in your IG story so I can see your recreation. 🙂