Love Cocoa's vegan hot chocolate recipe

Love Cocoa's vegan hot chocolate recipe

Think the best indulgent hot chocolates are made exclusively with dairy? Think again. We’re here to make luxurious, rich and creamy vegan hot chocolates easier than ever to achieve ☕


Think the best indulgent hot chocolates are made exclusively with dairy? Think again. We’re here to make luxurious, rich and creamy vegan hot chocolates easier than ever to achieve ☕

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It's no secret that the Vegan movement has taken the U.K. by storm🌱. In fact, reducing meat and dairy intakes has become a top priority for many U.K. foodies, with 35.5% of the population cutting down on (or entirely out) meat, and 15% limiting their dairy intake. Furthermore, around 3% of the British public are vegan, with 60% of vegans making the switch within the last five years!

To honour the populations changing food habits, we’ve dedicated this blog to all-things-vegan, and, using our premium vegan hot chocolate we've made sure you can perfect your choctastic hot drinks at home, with no dairy in sight 😊💕. 

Below you'll find a list of our favourite Love Cocoa vegan hot chocolate accompaniments, a guide to making plant-based substitutes for your hot chocolates, and a recipe for creating your own vegan hazelnut dark hot chocolate 🍫

You can thank us later 😉

The best vegan hot chocolate accompaniments:

Love Cocoa vegan Sea-salt dark chocolate covered almonds

 You may know our best-selling Sea Salt Chocolate Bar, this is its snack-worthy baby sibling. These almonds are encased in sea-salted, ethically sourced chocolate by Love Cocoa for the ultimate bite-sized treats, which are the perfect melt-in-the-mouth accompaniment to a steaming hot mug of cocoa. Salty and chocolatey, it's a perfectly moreish combination that is difficult to resist.

 

Love Cocoa organic dark chocolate vegan truffles

These delicious organic 72% Dark Peruvian Chocolate Truffles are covered in decadent flakes and are made with smooth and intense 72% dark chocolate from Peru. Filled with a velvety, mouth-watering ganache, these luxurious truffles would pair beautifully with a silky and rich cup of hot chocolate, which would compliment their smooth, "creamy" filling. 

Maldon Sea-salt dark chocolate bar 

Hand-harvested crunchy Sea Salt flakes bring out the flavours of Peruvian 70% cacao dark chocolate, which is guaranteed to make your taste buds dance! The saltiness of this dark Maldon bar is the perfect accompaniment to cut through a luscious, creamy vegan hot chocolate. 

 

Luscious orange essence with crunchy cocoa nibs all combined with single origin, 70% dark chocolate from Colombia to give a perfectly balanced bar. Combining the warm and comforting nature of hot chocolate with the orange, festive notes running throughout this bar is sure to encourage you to snuggle up on the sofa, and turn on your favourite Christmas film. Nothing says cosy quite like that. 

 

H!P Oat M!lk chocolate salted caramel bar

This creamy, oat-milk chocolate bar made by Love Cocoa's sister brand H!P is the perfect Vegan alternative to a regular milk chocolate bar! Smooth and sweet, this bar is incredibly moreish and melts in the mouth, which can be further elevated by pairing it with a sweet, piping hot drink. Plus, there's many more flavours to choose from, so no matter what kind of cocoa you're drinking, you'll be able to find the perfect bar to pair! Check out the H!P website to discover more.

 


Our top tips for making plant-based ingredient swaps

Of course, vegan versions of food and drink will require a few ingredient swaps here and there. For example, when we think of the typical hot chocolate, we think of milk, thick cream and milk chocolate. Basically a whole lot of dairy. Yet, thanks to today’s wealth of vegan innovations, and new kinds of plant-based milks, making amazing vegan hot chocolates at home is a pretty uncomplicated business 🥳

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Each type of alternative milk has its own unique taste and texture, and each one makes its own characteristic contributions to a hot drink 🥛☕. So, to help you decide on you vegan milk of choice, here is our brief guide to the best alternative milks for hot chocolate:

  •  Oat - Oat milk is known for its thick texture and creamy, satisfying flavour. This gives hot chocs a comforting thickness and a delightful indulgent heartiness.
  • Coconut - Coconut milk offers a silky texture and a sweet, tropical coconut flavour. If you’re into it, this flavour makes a delicious pairing with chocolate.
  • Cashew - Cashew milk has a very subtle cashew flavour, giving your hot chocolates a nutty aftertaste (not dissimilar to a nutty chocolate breakfast spread). Plus, its thick texture adds a luxurious and velvety feel to the drink.
  • Almond - As with cashew, almond milk offers a subtle nuttyness. However, there are considerable differences between this alt milk variety and its cashew cousin. Almond milk has a much lighter texture and a sweeter flavour.


The other main swap that you’ll be making in a vegan hot choc is the chocolate itself 🍫.

Most vegan chocolates use strong dark chocolate (although you can buy vegan milk chocolate, made with alt milks, such as H!P's oat-milk chocolate bars). So, if you’re using dark chocolate, you may want to create a sweeter drink by offsetting its strong, bitter flavour. Our recommended sweetener would be Maple Syrup, a delicious natural sweetener, which brings a whole new dimension to a hot chocolate 🍁🍯. Just stir in half a teaspoon before serving.

However, you might adore the taste of dark chocolate in drink-form, and won't want an added sweetness. If so, you’ll love the flavour profile that Love Cocoa's (vegan) Peruvian 70% Dark Chocolate brings to the table (or mug, we should say).


Our recipe for a vegan dark chocolate and hazelnut hot chocolate


Flavoured hot chocolates have been all the rage lately, and it’s easy to see why. These spiced, warming drinks taste like winter in a mug ❄🌲, and, they’re surprisingly easy to make!

This vegan hot chocolate recipe is a Love Cocoa favourite, and an absolute game-changer 🥰


Ingredients:
● Oat milk, 240 ml (or any plant-based milk of your choice)
● Coconut cream (from a can), 2 tbsp
● Cornflour, ¼ tsp
Love Cocoa 40% drinking chocolate (vegan), 1 tsp
● Brown sugar, 1 tsp
● Salt, a pinch
Love Cocoa Peruvian 70% Dark Chocolate Bar, 50g, finely chopped
● Hazelnut extract, ½ tsp (or 1 tsp of hazelnut syrup)
● Amaretto, 1 tbsp (optional)



Method:

  1. Add the milk to a small saucepan on a medium heat. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut cream with the corn-starch until fully combined.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk the cocoa powder, sugar and salt with a fork.
  3. Once the milk starts to boil, whisk in the bowl of coconut cream. Once fully combined, add in the bowl of the cocoa mixture and continue whisking.
  4. After a couple of minutes, fold in the chocolate and keep stirring until fully combined.
  5. Stir in the hazelnut extract and amaretto (if using). Serve in your favourite mug.


And there you have it - the only guide you’ll ever need to make top-notch vegan hot chocolates at home ☕🥛🍫

We love the way that all of these vegan ingredients work together, to create a thick and silky hot chocolate, without any need for dairy. The coconut cream and oat milk provides a creaminess, while the cornflour thickens the mixture. The hazelnut give the drink a depth of flavour, and the top quality chocolate (courtesy of yours truly), provides a rich body to the drink. Cheers ✌💖

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At Love Cocoa, we include a wide variety of premium vegan chocolates in our range. Have a scroll through our online shop and explore our collection of vegan chocolate and luxury hot chocolate gift sets, including knock-out hot chocolate vegan gifts 🌱🌍😍