Healing Hot Chocolate

I just love hot drinks. Here’s another one for your postpartum recipe collection.

The postpartum period is a time to get cozy and comfortable, keep warm, and snuggle with the new tiny human in your life. I honestly can’t think of a better beverage than hot chocolate to accompany this time of healing, emotions, and family.

Who doesn’t love a warm mug of hot chocolate, anyway?!

This one’s a little different than the typical Carnation hot chocolate packets you may be familiar with (I know I had them growing up). Those ones are basically just sugar, modified oils, and other gross ingredients that are the opposite of what you want to put in your body - postpartum or not.

This hot chocolate is filled with real food, real ingredients. Woohoo! It’s for sure not inherently sweet - you get to decide how much sweetener you want to use.

You’ll notice this looks remarkably similar to my turmeric latte recipe. (Because when you find a method that works, why mess with it?) Play around and find a blending technique that you like. You may use a hand blender directly in your pot or wide mug, or you may prefer to just toss all ingredients in a blender. Whatever works and makes it nice and rich and creamy. :)

Be sure to check out my tip below, if you’re spending long days in bed with baby. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon unflavoured collagen powder
1 tablespoon raw cacao powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup water
½ cup coconut milk
Maple syrup to taste (sub honey or other sweetener)

Instructions:

Measure all ingredients, except maple syrup, into a small saucepan. Turn on medium heat and using a fork or whisk, stir often. Bring up to boiling or just under the boiling point, depending how hot you want it. Optional: use a hand/immersion blender at this point, to make it a little more creamy and blended. Pour into a large mug. Sweeten as desired.

Another way you could make this is to boil 1 cup of water in your kettle, and mix together with all the other ingredients in a blender. I often boil the water and then mix it with everything directly in my mug using my hand blender, because my mug is big and wide enough for that. Do whatever works!

Tip: Try keeping this in a thermos by your bedside. Your leisurely sips will likely be interrupted by you-know-who, so being able to keep it warm for several hours is a good idea. Try shaking the thermos lightly before drinking from it, as the hot chocolate may naturally separate over time.  

One last thing...share this recipe with the friend, family member, or helper who you would like to make this for you.

Here’s to staying comfy, cozy, and warm!