Thick and Creamy Skinny Hot Chocolate

You will never believe this super thick and creamy skinny hot chocolate is made with low-fat milk and has fewer than 250 calories per cup!

Hello! In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve slowed down a bit with my blog in the past few weeks. I’m nearing the end of my pregnancy and I’m just. so. tired. I literally can’t keep my eyes open past 9:30, and the evenings are normally when I work on writing posts, photo editing, and promoting on social media. I’ve decided it’s OK to cut myself some slack for a little while, and hopefully once the baby is here and we’re settled into a routine, I’ll get back to it. I’m not really too worried. I LOVE my blog and could never abandon it for long 🙂

But yeah, about being tired. Literally all I want to do at night is curl up in bed, turn on Netflix, and…drink a giant mug of this thick and creamy SKINNY hot chocolate.

In the colder months, I become a total hot chocolate addict. Do you?

Full confession: I used to drink one of those packets of diet instant hot chocolate mix almost every night. I tried to convince myself it was delicious, but who was I kidding? What I really craved was that ultra-indulgent, made-with-heavy-cream hot chocolate, like the kind you can get at fancy bakeries and chocolate shops. (Here in New York my fave is City Bakery!)

But I think we can all agree that, like Champagne or fine scotch, heavy cream is not an everyday beverage.

Fortunately, there is a way to make intensely creamy, thick-as-pudding hot chocolate without any heavy cream at all. In fact, this hot chocolate is made with low-fat milk.

I’m about to let you in on all the secrets. But first, I think you need to stock up on marshmallows ASAP, because you will be making this thick and creamy skinny hot chocolate all winter long.

My hot chocolate is adapted from an Anne Burrell recipe that I somehow stumbled upon on the Food Network website. The secret ingredients are evaporated milk and a little bit of cornstarch, which, when combined, produce that rich melted chocolate consistency. Anne uses whole milk in her version, but I found that 1% or 2% worked just fine. (I tried this with both full fat and low-fat evaporated milk, and while the low-fat worked and was quite good, if you really want it THICK you’ve got to use full fat. The good news is that there actually isn’t really too much of a difference in calories.) Anne also adds cinnamon to her hot chocolate, but I’m actually not a fan of the cinnamon-chocolate combo. Instead, I opted for a tiny pinch of Kosher salt and a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of instant coffee powder, both of which work behind the scenes to make the chocolate flavor really pop.

Another great thing about this hot chocolate? I’ve discovered (since, ahem, I’ve made this three times in the past week) it keeps really well in the fridge and reheats like a dream. You can whip up a batch to enjoy all week, or pour it into a quart-sized mason jar and give it as a hostess gift. If you can bear to part with it, that is 😉

Thick and Creamy Skinny Hot Chocolate

2016-11-07 20:41:42

Serves 4

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Ingredients

3 cups low-fat milk (I used 1%)
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso powder (optional)
Pinch of Kosher salt

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, evaporated milk, and vanilla and heat until just barely simmering.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the cocoa, sugar, cornstarch, coffee powder (if using), and salt.
When the milk mixture is simmering, carefully pour about 1/4 cup into the cocoa mixture and whisk to form a paste. Whisk the paste back into the saucepan with the milk. Heat over medium heat until the hot chocolate is just barely starting to boil and you see one or two bubbles pop to the surface.
Remove from the heat, pour into mugs, and serve, or store in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.

Notes