Every summer, I dry lots of our homegrown herbs. I use them in tasty teas, infused honeys, for medicine, to flavor soups, and much more. I don't believe we can ever have too much and as it doesn't require much from me in terms of work and preserving energy, I tend to go overboard. That abundance gives me permission and opportunity to get creative. I happen to have a sweet tooth the size of Montana, so often creativity with food ingredients often turns to sweet treats and in this case Herbal Hot Chocolate. These amazing, naturally flavored drinks are the perfect soothing, comforting, and warming cup to grasp on a cold winter's night.
Keys to Good Herbal Hot Chocolate
1) Start with good quality chocolate, the kind of chocolate you would eat by the bar, not the stuff in the baking aisle, the stuff in the candy aisle of the grocery store. Good quality chocolate that isn't full of artificial colors or flavors, the flavor of the chocolate comes through, so use the good stuff. You can use white, dark, or milk chocolate.
2) The milk can be any of your choice – cow, goat, coconut, almond, rice, etc. etc. Again use something you would drink straight from the glass. This is not the place to use something like powdered milk that you might not normally enjoy. Something rich and creamy would be incredible, cream or full-fat coconut milk. Herbal Hot Chocolate is a tiny exercise in homegrown indulgence, use the best you can afford.
3) Finally, the herbs. While each herb might have particular medicinal or therapeutic qualities in this application, the herbs are used for their individual flavor as a spice rather than as something healing. The basic recipe is the same, so feel free to use whatever tasty thing you harvested and dried from your garden to customize these cups of herbal hot chocolate. Some ideas include:
- White Chocolate & Lavender
- Milk Chocolate & Anise Hyssop
- Dark Chocolate & Mint (truly mint with any chocolate is incredible)
- White Chocolate & Basil
The recipe below makes two servings but can easily be multiplied to feed a larger crowd, to make a single serving simply cut the ingredient amounts in half.
Herbal Hot Chocolate
Make the most of homegrown dried herbs by mixing up a batch of comforting herbal hot chocolate on a chilly night to comfort the body & soul.
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Milk (your choice - cow, goat, coconut, etc.)
- 3 Ounces Chocolate, roughly chopped (any - milk, white, dark)
- 2 teaspoons Dried Herb (any - mint, lavender, anise hyssop, etc.)
Instructions
- Combine dried herbs and milk in a saucepan. Gently warm the milk, just until it begins to steam, no boiling or simmering - just warmed through. Remove from heat and cover with a lid. Allow the herbs to steep in the milk for 10 minutes.
- Strain the herbs from the milk. Place the infused milk back into the saucepan and add chopped chocolate. Heat gently, whisking the chocolate and milk until the chocolate is melted and the drink is hot, but again not boiling (don't scald the milk).
- Serve in a mug topped with whipped cream or marshmallows if desired.
i was excited when i saw this recipe :D
Maybe telling us what YOU put in: be a little more specific, and not quite so general about this recipe! It sounds great, but until I know what you usually put in, and what tastes good in combination, I’m not about to waste good chocolate on something that will end up tasting horrible!
Do you only use ONE herb at a time (makes sense to me) or do you combine them? I’m not trying to be negative, but this is just too general for me.
There were suggestions for flavor combinations in the article: dark chocolate and mint is particularly lovely. White chocolate and lavender is also delicious. The recipe is to give you permission to choose whatever flavors you’d like.
Right Smh
You can’t really mess up chocolate.. all of these sound divine! thanks for the ideas, I had never thought of this!
Sounds great! I’ll bet a chai mix would be tasty. Thanks for the encouragement to give it a try.
I wouldn’t use hyssop. It contains thujone which causes seizures. Unless you mean anise hyssop which is a different herb and makes a lovely herbal tea.
The recipe does say anise hyssop.
I prefer using fresh herbs from my garden – could I use fresh herbs instead of dried?
For sure – use fresh when you have them. Simply use 2 Tablespoons of fresh (chop and bruise them in the milk for best flavor) instead of 2 teaspoons of dried.
If I wanted to give this a try to give as gifts (to be cooked by recipient) what would you think would be the best way to package it to give? Herbs and chocolate separate with instructions? Thanks in advance! I love your ideas!
I would absolutely do it that way. Put the chocolate and herbs together in a little box or basket with an instruction card. If the person is drinking non-dairy milk you could even include a container of shelf-stable almond / coconut (or other type) milk.
White chocolate and lavender?! You’re a genius. We are definitely trying that one this Advent season. The reward for sitting still while we read Advent scriptures is that they get hot chocolate. This will up my game!
I never would have thought to do this. Thank you!
Enjoy!