Cold Nights & Hot Cocoa and a Lactose-Free Variation

Mr. and Mrs.Grumpy are much happier now that they are tanked up with hot cocoa. I have many memories of sipping hot chocolate by the fireplace on a cold winter night.

We had plenty of cold winter nights while growing up in Virginia, even in March. Quite often at night we’d have a mug of hot cocoa to sip on accompanied by a snack of crackers, apple slices and cheese. The hot cocoa came from a powdered mix that my mother kept in a large jar. She even sent me off to college with a jar of the mix so that I could add water and heat to make cocoa in my dorm room. These years pre-date the convenient instant cocoa mixes that are now available in grocery stores.

While browsing through one of the recipe magazines on the rack at the grocery store waiting to check-out, I found a mix that reminded me of the one my mom made. For nostalgia, I thought I’d try it. Over the years I’ve become more lactose-intolerant (the inability do digest milk sugar). I wondered if I could make a lactose-free variation using soy milk powder.

Hot Cocoa Mix

The original recipe is from “Best Recipes-Holiday Gifts from a Jar,” published by Publications International, Ltd., and used here with permission. This little recipe book has mixes for all kinds of dishes from tabbouleh salad to biscottini. The mix is placed in a jar along with a recipe card. The ideas is to give the mix as a holiday gift. I kept mine instead.

The hot cocoa mix when prepared into hot chocolate is creamy and smooth with a nice cocoa flavor. It is one of the best hot chocolate’s I’ve had and surpasses the instant cocoa mixes which are found in stores. It is made with powdered milk which is readily available in grocery stores. Here are the ingredients.

Simply mix the ingredients in a bowl, then store in an airtight container.

Scoop out what you need for one mug or make the entire mix for eight servings.

Lactose-Free Hot Cocoa Mix Variation

Making a lactose-free variation had me stumped. I thought it would be easy to substitute powdered soy milk in the hot cocoa recipe for nonfat dry milk. However, I visited many grocery stores and soy milk powder just isn’t available. Finally I found soya powder at a health food store. It is made using a different process from soy flour. When heated, it can be used as soy milk or added dry to recipes in place of nonfat dry milk. Here’s the soya powder on the right.

As an alternative, I also found a shelf-stable soy milk carton, shown in the center. It can be stored on a shelf-does not have to be kept in the refrigerator. Convenient for me as don’t use that much soy milk. So I made the mix without any powdered milk or soy milk and added it to the carton of soy milk. While any soy milk tastes different than cow’s milk, this made a very tasty hot cocoa.

Here are the ingredients:

Recipe and Lactose-Free Variation

Enjoy the hot cocoa with an snack of cheese, crackers and apple slices.