Peppermint Hot Chocolate (Vegan & Refined Sugar Free)

Hey hey friends! This recipe is so long overdue. I discovered this peppermint hot chocolate in early December and it was holiday perfection! It packs the perfect peppermint punch and just the right amount of chocolate. Onto the recipe, shall we? I made these all through the holiday season and I just haven't been able to stop. I still make myself a peppermint hot chocolate almost weekly! It is such a cozy little treat to have at the end of a busy day. Onto the recipe, shall we?

The recipe that I'm sharing below makes 2 hot chocolates (I'm sure you can stretch it to make 3 smaller hot chocolates if needed). You can double, triple or even halve this recipe as you need.

Add 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder, 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup, 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract and about 1 Tablespoon of oat milk to a small saucepan. I say about a Tablespoon of oat milk because I don't really measure it at this point. It's just enough to get everything mixed together before you add more oat milk later. Over medium heat, stir these ingredients together until they make a sort of paste.

When the cocoa is dissolved into the liquid, add 2 cups of oat milk to the saucepan. Use a whisk to stir the hot chocolate together until the milk is steaming. I like to whisk my milk so that it froths a little - it froths pretty easily.

Once the milk is steaming, you're good to serve! Pour the hot chocolate into 2 mugs and serve. I surprised the Bean and one of her friends with these hot chocolates one day after school and they were obsessed! Her friend said "I'm not even a vegan person but this is the best chocolate I've ever had." I call that a big success!

You can easily make little changes to this recipe depending on your needs - you can take out the peppermint to have just plain hot chocolate, you can sub in another extract (I'm thinking orange extract would be extra yummy!), and, of course, you can switch out the oat milk for any other milk that you might prefer!

Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Vegan & Refined Sugar Free
serves 2

ingredients
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 cups + 1 Tablespoon oat milk

directions
1. Add the cocoa powder, the maple syrup, the peppermint extract and 1 Tablespoon of the oat milk to a small saucepan. Over medium heat, stir the ingredients together so that they form a sort of paste.
2. Add the remaining 2 cups of oat milk to the saucepan and whisk everything together. Once the milk is steaming, pour the hot chocolate into a 2 mugs.

Enjoy!