I have been going on and on for ages now about how I want to get my hands on some hazelnut extract. Well finally I came across it by pure luck while I was looking for other ingredients. There is a great shop called Weigh 'N' Pay on Whitfords Ave in Woodvale. It is a bulk food store which has all of your baking needs as well as many ingredients that you normally find in health food stores, but in bulk. I really love this store and it has made my life a lot easier because they sell a lot of the products that I can't find in the grocery stores like Woolworths and Coles. Weigh 'N' Pay have so many different flavour extracts and on this trip I picked up hazelnut and butterscotch. I will be back for some of the others at a later date :) I used the extracts to make hazelnut hot chocolate with butterscotch whipped cream. Vegan of course. It is a very rich and creamy drink, so it's probably better in small servings or else you might feel sick. It is perfect for all you people with a sweet tooth, and it was a great way to warm up my night and help me to unwind and relax.
Vegan Hazelnut Hot Chocolate with Butterscotch Whipped Cream Serves 1 Butterscotch whipped cream:
1 can coconut milk (or a can of coconut cream)
3 tablespoons icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon butterscotch extract
Directions
Place the can of coconut milk/cream into the fridge and leave overnight.
Open the can of coconut milk. There will be a firm, waxy layer on top.
Scoop out this firm layer coconut cream that has solidified at the top of the can.
Stop as soon as you reach the water at the bottom of the
can; don't include anything but the solid cream. (You can use the water
in smoothies, or just drink it straight.)
Place this cream in the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl.
Turn your mixer or hand beaters to high speed, and whip the coconut cream for 3 to 5 minutes.
Whip until it becomes fluffy and light, with soft peaks. Mix in sugar and butterscotch extract.
Hot chocolate:
1 cup soy milk (or other non-dairy milk. If you use vanilla soy milk then omit the sugar and vanilla essence)
1-2 tablespoons cocoa powder (depending on how strong you like your hot chocolate)
1-2 teaspoons sweetener (depending on your taste)
1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract/essence
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
Directions
Heat all of the ingredients in a pot until hot (not boiling).
Pour into your favourite mug or glass and top with the butterscotch whipped cream.
I have lost count of how many hot chocolate recipes I had made, but tonight I add another one to that list of goodness knows how many. This hot chocolate was definitely needed. I've had a busy week and today was my unwind day. Nothing better to wind down with on a winters night than a nice hot cup of cocoa. There were two separate recipes on the website Knitted Bliss for Banana Hot Chocolate and Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate, but I decided to combine the two flavours into one. I really love the banana-peanut butter flavour combination so this was great. I've made a chocolate banana and peanut butter smoothie before, but I've never tried it as a hot drink. Tastes good both hot or cold if you ask me. On a side note, my brother and I were watching some episodes of the TV show Friends today, and we watched the episode "The One With All The Resolutions". In this episode, Ross made a New Year's resolution to do something new each day. For the first time ever, I felt like my life was like a tv show because I'm doing something new just like Ross. One of Ross' new things was to wear a pair of leather pants. He got too hot wearing them and took them off in the bathroom of the girl he was on a date with. When he tried to get them back on, they wouldn't go up because either they shrunk or his "legs expanded" from the heat. It's a funny episode, as is every other episode of Friends.
Maybe my something new one day can be to wear a pair of leather pants. At least because it's winter, I won't get too sweaty in them :) Vegan Banana and Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate Serves 1
Ingredients
1 cup soy milk (I used vanilla soy milk)
1 tablespoon dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 ripe banana
1 tablespoon peanut butter (crunch or smooth, and add more if you prefer)
Note: if you're using unsweetened soy (or other non-dairy) milk, then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and 2 teaspoons of any sweetener. Directions
Blend the peanut butter and banana together with about 1/4 of the milk in a food processor.
Heat the remaining milk and the cocoa in a saucepan until hot.
Add the peanut butter and banana mixture and stir well to combine.
Pour into mug.
I suggest using a big mug just in case the hot chocolate is too thick for you. That way you can just add extra milk and not get any over flow. We must not waste any of the hot chocolate!!
I decided to try another of the hot chocolate recipes from the Knitted Bliss: The Seven Days of Hot Chocolate series. Tonight I made white chocolate chai hot chocolate. I love anything chai! I did things a tiny bit different from the original recipe and I added extra chai spices. When ever I make homemade chai lattes I'll use cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, ground ginger, white pepper, star anise and sometimes nutmeg. To simplify things, you can just use cinnamon, cloves and cardamon and you'll still get that wonderful chai flavour. I must say, with all these hot chocolate recipes, I'm running out of pretty mugs to use for the photos! I think I'll start needing to ask my friends to lend me whatever fancy mugs they have in their cupboards. Vegan Chai White Hot Chocolate Serves 1 Ingredients
1 cup soy milk (I used 1/2 unsweetened and 1/2 vanilla soy milk)
30-50g vegan white chocolate (depending on how sweet you want the drink)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamon
1/8 ground ginger (optional)
1/8 ground star anise (optional)
1/8 nutmeg
1/8 allspice
Directions
Heat soy milk and stir in spices. Whisk until combined.
Lower heat and add white chocolate. Stir until combined.
Pour into mug and sip down that chocolatey chai goodness.
I've been busy studying for my nursing exam which is in exactly 14 hours. I was studying with a group of friends in the library late this afternoon when it occurred to me that I hadn't done my something new for the day. Normally if it's late in the day and I haven't decided on a new thing to do then I will honestly have a mini panic attack. Today however, I was already having a panic attack about the exam and so the problem of not having done my something new didn't quite have as much of an impact on my anxiety levels. Luckily, I have a few new things to do which are quick and easy already up my sleeve for days like today. I decided to try yet another hot chocolate recipe. I found a recipe for Strawberry White Hot Chocolate from the site Knitted Bliss. I have just recently found the Sweet Williams brand of vegan white chocolate so there wasn't much stopping me from veganising this recipe. The original recipe uses 1/2 cup of strawberry jam, but I didn't like the idea of having all that unhealthy refined sugar from both the white chocolate and the jam so I used strawberry flavouring instead. It's much the same as vanilla essence, so you'll probably find it on the same shelf in your local super markets. White chocolate and strawberry is by far one of the best flavour combinations. This recipe is a must for people who have a sweet tooth. Absolutely delicious. It's not all that healthy, but sometimes you need a good YOLO drink...especially during exam time.
Vegan Strawberry White Hot Chocolate Serves 1 Ingredients
1/2 vanilla soy milk
1/2 unsweetened soy milk (If you don't want your drink very sweet, then use 1 cup of unsweetened soy milk)
1 teaspoon strawberry essence/flavouring (or add more according to your taste)
30g vegan white chocolate (I used the Sweet William brand)
* if you're not using vanilla soy milk, then add 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Directions
Place a heatproof bowl over a small saucepan of water and heat water until it's boiling. Lower heat to a simmer.
Place soy milk into bowl until hot but not boiling
Add white chocolate to soy milk and stir until dissolved
Add strawberry essence and vanilla essence (if using) and stir
It's raining outside! Oh we are truly getting to the heart of winter over here in Perth, Australia. I've got my fluffy socks on and the heater going. As you may know, I've been doing lots of experimenting with hot chocolate recipes over the last week or so. I've decided to continue this after finding a recipe for Vegan Orange Chocolate Latte in a cookbook that I borrowed out from the library today. I actually borrowed out 4 vegan cookbooks today. Sorry to all you vegans out there in the Perth region who can't borrow out a book because it's already on loan. I'm not a big coffee drinker, so instead of making that particular recipe, I decided to Google some other orange hot chocolate recipes. I came across a nice and easy recipe on the blog site Knitted Bliss. I was so pleased to find this recipe was actually one of a series of hot chocolate recipes titled "The Seven Days of Hot Chocolate". Seven totally scrumptious hot chocolate recipes just waiting to be made and guzzled down. There is a delicious White Chocolate and Strawberry hot chocolate recipe that I really want to make. Stay tuned. My vegan version will be up soon enough :)
I was surprised at how much I liked this orange hot chocolate. I didn't think that citrus and milk combination would work, but the addition of the orange zest was so lovely. The citrus flavour was subtle and it really complimented the cocoa. I really enjoy dark chocolate so I added extra 99% Lindt dark chocolate. Perfect. There was the strong earthy bitterness from the chocolate, the sweetness from the vanilla soy milk and that hint of fruitiness from the orange. I am officially addicted to hot chocolate.
Vegan Orange Hot Chocolate Serves 1 Ingredients
1 cup vanilla soy milk (I ended up using a bit more than 1 cup because I used a super big mug)
2 teaspoons dutch-processed cocoa powder (or any cocoa powder will do. But using a few blocks of dark chocolate will probably make your drink more velvety)
1/4 cloves (or any other spices like cinnamon)
1 tablespoon grated orange zest (or if you don't like bits of zest floating around, you can put a few big peels in so that you can scoop it out later)
Directions
Heat the soy milk together with the cocoa and cloves.
Add the orange zest.
Pour into mug and stir in extra blocks of chocolate if you like.
I carried on with the theme of hot drinks and made up a mug of vegan ginger hot chocolate. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there scrunching their noses at even the idea of ginger in a delicious cup of hot chocolate. And those people can just stick to ordinary hot chocolate. There's nothing wrong with that. I have such a love of food that I am pretty much willing to try anything, and I so happen to like the taste of ginger in hot drinks. Mind you, this version of hot chocolate is no where near as delicious as mint hot chocolate, but it still warms up my insides which it's cold outside. I added extra cocoa powder and also a bit of coconut cream to my recipe and let me tell you, this hot chocolate was like pure velvet. It was rich and creamy and totally delicious. Definitely give this a try is you're bold enough. But make sure there are no distractions around while you're enjoying this warm cup of goodness. Something this yummy should be enjoyed undisturbed.
Vegan ginger hot chocolate Serves 1 Ingredients
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup water
3 teaspoons dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger (optional) Add this if you are super keen on that gingery taste
1-2 pieces crystallised ginger (candied ginger)
1/4 ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 ground cloves (optional)
1 tablespoon coconut cream (optional)
Directions
Heat milk and water until steaming
Add cocoa powder and ginger and whisk well until combined
Add coconut cream, cinnamon and cloves and whisk.
Pour into your favourite mug and add a few pieces of crystallised ginger.
