I continuosly have these chocolate cravings, but now I decided to try a healthier version of it - hot chocolate made from real cacao.

Bought a package of Colombian Black 100% Los Llanos cacao by Willie's Cacao at Culinaris. The package includes 2 discs of cacao. Los Llanos's beautiful Trinitario bean, with its soft notes of cherries & plums, is born high in the jungle on the Colombian-Venezuelan border. 

First I grated by sharp knife - it's very hard - a bite of cacao, measured a cupful of soya milk to a saucepan and added the cacao into it. Stirred the mixture until cacao had melted.

Whipped some cream - it's a bit funny, I cannot eat/drink milk products nor yogurt, but a small amount of whipped cream is not a problem - and poured it on the top of the drink. Sprinkled a hint of cinnamon on top as well. 

Another funny thing is that as much as I love everything sweet, I don't like sweet drinks. I never add sugar nor honey into my tea for example. So this hot chocolate doesn't have any sugar not even a sweet taste, and I still love it!   

After opening the package I store the cacao discs in a small plastic back in my fridge.

You can find more information on Willie's Cacao here.

You can also find more info on Budapest based Culinaris here.

Sunday Treat

 I'm definitely a chocoholic. I've tried to cut it down, but in the winter time it's so nice to have a big mug of hot chocolate made of pure unsweetened cocoa melted into soya milk, and topped it with loads of whipped cream and spiced up with some cinnamon.  

Hot chocolate is such a treat especially after coming back from the office where was installing 3pc of Ikea PS pendant lamps. You know those round lamps with white paper flowers. It was a bit of a challenge, and I would have needed a pair of glasses to cover my eyes for not hitting them by the thin metal sticks. . . The easy part was adding the flowers one by one, just needed to click them. Work done now, so it'll be nice to start a new day in my better lighten office tomorrow.

I even add some cocoa covered almonds to my afternoon snack…

One can never have too much chocolate!

Hot Chocolate In New York Part 2

 Had another cup of hot chocolate in New York. This time at MarieBelle on Broome Street. I chose a no-sugar Maya hot chocolate and absolutely loved it. Got several shots of different hot chocolate samples as well...all extremely delicious. The place is a haven for chocolate lovers, and others too. It's so nice and peaceful inside - there's a shop and a separate salon for enjoying some tea, hot chocolate and lunch. 

MarieBelle

484 Broome Street

Hot Chocolate In New York

 Had a lovely cup of hot Belgian chocolate on Grand Street. Yummy, not too sweet and it was nice that you could pour the chocolate yourself and mix it with the milk foam.