Now that we’re well into winter, it’s time to bring out the hot cocoa (also known as hot chocolate). I’ve always been picky about my hot chocolate. I’m not a huge fan of the store-bought mixes, so I usually just make my own with milk, cocoa powder, and sugar.
At our New Year Eve’s party, a friend shared her homemade hot cocoa recipe with me and showed me how to make it. It’s delicious and oh so easy to prepare. We used a crock pot, but you can use any similar slow cooker.
Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups milk
2 cups chocolate chips (milk, dark, semisweet, or a mix)
Directions:
- Combine ingredients in crock pot, and stir.
- Cook on low for 2 hours (until chocolate chips are fully melted) stirring occasionally.
- Serve with whipped cream and marshmallows.
This sounds amazing. Now I just need an event to bring it to!
Lol! It's pretty tasty. 🙂
Ellie
Oh my, did you go straight from the party to a cardiologist? That's a ton of fat and sugar! What about skim milk and cocoa powder?
Skim milk has more natural sugar than cream. If you used cocoa powder you would still have to add sugar.
It's all about moderation. This recipe looks like it would serve 10 average sized portions. And it sounds delicious!
Those sugar amounts may be true if you were only comparing cream and skim milk. But look at this recipe as a whole. There are 13 grams of "sugar" in whole milk. Times 6 cups of whole milk, that's 78 grams. Then you add a can of sweetened condensed milk. The can I have in my pantry says that's 220 grams of sugar. Then you add a bag of chocolate chips, another 183 grams (depending on type of chip). So you're in the ballpark of just under 500 grams of sugar in the recipe. Divided by 10, that's about 48-50 grams of sugar per serving.
If you start with a cup of skim milk (12g sugar), add cocoa powder (negligible sugar) and 1 Tbsp. of sugar (12g), you end up with 24 grams of sugars.
It's clear which recipe wins both for sugar and fat or saturated fat content (which I did not calculate; that should be obvious).
I don't buy into "moderation." If you "moderated" everything, you'd still be consuming what you shouldn't be every day. I prefer substitution, or plain elimination.
48g of sugar in a serving = eating 4 Tbsp. of table sugar at once. Yikes! I don't know anyone who would do that, not even in moderation!
It's dessert.
For me moderation means having a small cup of "real" hot chocolate instead of a weaker substitute. Or nothing at all, if I need to cut calories. It's a preference thing, too.
I agree that this hot cocoa isn't super healthy. I wouldn't drink it all the time, but at a party, it's fun to have something special.
There are a lot of substitutions that can be made to the recipe to cut down the fat and sugar. You can use milk instead of cream, and you can even use milk instead of sweetened condensed milk. You can also take out all or some of the chocolate chips and use cocoa powder instead. Some people don't like the bitterness of cocoa powder though. And if you add cocoa powder, you will have to do a lot of whisking.
Ellie
Thanks for sharing the recipe Ellie! I had this hot chocolate at a Christmas party last month and it was fantastic!!
It's my pleasure, Callie. I'm glad to hear you liked it! Was the recipe exactly the same?
Ellie
That sound delish!! 😛
It is! 🙂
Ellie
I am also not a huge fan of store bought mixes. After getting married my MIL passed down her homemade hot cocoa recipe that my husband grew up with and our family all loves! It is a dry mix that you make up, and when you want some you just scoop some out in a mug and add hot water. Here is the link to the recipe if you are interested! http://afiremanswife.com/2016/11/23/homemade-hot-cocoa/
The crockpot version would be great for a party but I love just having the mix made up in a jar on the counter for when we feel like it.
Have a Happy New Year!
Blessings,
Jen
You lost me at the Coffee Mate in that recipe. Its ingredients sound like they belong in a chemist's lab.
You just need fat-free milk, cocoa powder, a dash of sugar, a drop of vanilla, and a pinch of salt to taste. Uncomplicated ingredients that are probably in most kitchens right now. Hershey has the recipe on the can & their website.
Thanks for sharing, Jen! May I ask what program you use to embed printable versions of your recipes?
Ellie
Hi Ellie, I use EasyRecipe. I have really liked having a printable version of my recipes. I had someone help me set it up so unfortunately I don't have more help to offer than the name. 🙂
Jen
Thank you, Jen! That's very helpful. I'll research it. 🙂
Ellie
Oh wow! What a treat. Looks amazing 🙂
Thanks, Robyn!
Ellie
We had slushy style iced chocolate drinks for Christmas here in Australia. I had planned on hot chocolate but it was so hot I blitzed it in a blender with ice cubes instead. 🙂
That sounds tasty. Must be nice to have a warm Christmas. Do you live along the coast of Australia?
Ellie
It is interesting to see the never ending conflict between being careful about what one eats and ones health. And, being social and happy and enjoying a bit of delicious holiday food. The thing about some cocoa mixes is they may taste sweet going down but the chemicals in them literally make me feel posioned after, for hours, so for me even a bit is not a happy thing in the end. It is just pasting on a smile to be polite and pretending to take a sip – meanwhile visiting the rest room with my mug o in hand. And there I'm done! For people careful about every bite there should be another choice even a low fat low sugar cocoa, or whatever else. Like mulled cider or apple tea with cinnamon or such on the scale to zero health offences from a warming tasty drink. Thanks for the interesting post Ellie, hny !!!
If I have people over to eat, I make sure to find out about medical conditions and food allergies first. I have several friends who are diabetic, and I must offer food alternatives that won't cause them problems. I also bring caffeine-free tea bags whenever I go anywhere, because I can't have caffeine due to a heart condition.
Food reactions are no laughing matter. They can be very serious or life-threatening. I'm not being picky when I ask if there is seafood in any of the appetizers. I'm trying to keep you from having to call an ambulance.
I sent someone to the ER because of a carrot cake. Didn't know my friend was allergic to cinnamon, and she didn't ask if there was some in the cake before she tasted it. My friend had a pretty serious disease and she is constantly developping new allergies. So she can eat something and be fine, and the following week the same food will give her a reaction. It's crazy!!
Well, the carrot cake incident was quite the experience! But we can laugh about it now.
Josée
Cinnamon allergy – that's a new one. Thought you were going to say there were nuts in the cake, which will do it for a lot of people. But I can understand how someone could react to the bark of a certain tree.
Eating at a buffet or a pot-luck at a get-together can be a real challenge for some people. Whenever I bring food, I put a small label on the dish to say what it is and what the ingredients are, if it's homemade. I've had people thank me after, especially if there's an ingredient they need to avoid.
That recipe sounds like drinking melted cake icing or cookie filling. Think I'll pass.
ellie what do you do with the leftovers?
We refrigerated the leftover hot cocoa in a pitcher and reheated it in the microwave as desired. It didn't last long though. Lol.
Ellie
My husband and I like powdered Swiss Miss hot cocoa with marshmallows in the can. We scoop out what we need and mix it in a mug of hot skim milk. Hot chocolate taste so good in the wintertime.
This look good. Look forward to trying it! 🙂
I made this last night. I don't have a crock pot or slow cooker but I put it in a Pyrex dish on top of a saucepan of water and it worked quite well. It was nice. Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Glad to hear that, Moon Sparkle! Thanks for sharing your experience. It's good to know you don't have to use a crock pot.
Ellie
Hey have you ever thought of making a Cooking Book, and how to live Environmentally too!! I like your recipe, and use them. When your making bread, put the dough in the oven, just with the light on inside, so that the oven will be warm, so you can get a good rise, put cling wrap, cover the bowl with a thick towel, to keep the heat of the light of the in stove, and it always takes longer for the first rise then you think!!!
That's a good idea, Justine! I'm not sure I have enough recipes yet, but I'll keep that in mind for the future. Thanks for the bread tips. 🙂
Ellie
I have a kerig and bought the Swiss Miss light hot chocolate it only has 4 grams of sugar and my doctor said it was ok to drink if your a diabetic. Your sugar does even go up.
We tried this recipe last night and it was a flop 🙁
Not sure what went wrong – we did it in the slow cooker, followed the recipe. Our mix had a greasy fat layer on top and the chocolate wasn't melted or mixed in well even though we cooked it for 4hrs. Might try the stove top next time. Blessings!!
I'm sorry to hear that. Very strange. We made two batches over New Year's, and the person who gave me the recipe has made it multiple times. Did you stir occasionally as it cooked? Might also have to do with the strength of your crock pot. Again, I"m sorry it didn't work for you.
Ellie
Mum-2-8. It probably did work right for you because u cook it for 4 hours instead of for 2 hours like the recipe said.