Haitian Hot Chocolate: Perfect for Cold Winter days!

I don’t know about you, but the recent weather change hit me like a wrecking ball. In many other states in the US, the weather transitions from one season to another; here in  Maryland however, there is no real transition. It is 95°F one day, and 45°F in the next. So when I say yesterday was summer and today is winter-ish, it was not an exaggeration. Since this sudden weather change did not give me a lot of time to bundle up (I am still in the middle of transitioning my wardrobe to be honest), I have been drinking a lot of hot chocolate and tea, so I decided to share my favorite haitian hot chocolate recipe with you guys. This comforting beverage is absolutely perfect for cold winter days and for an extra thanksgiving touch, pairs perfectly with some pumpkin spiced Nigerian buns like these tasty ones made by Chichi from mydiasporakitchen.com. Remember Chichi from our mother’s day collab…. You need to check her out, seriously!!!

One of my dear friends and former roommate is Haitian, and every time she visited her family in Pennsylvania, she would always come back home with a ton of cooked food, and a bunch of interesting ingredients. One of the interesting ingredients that she often brought home is the Haitian raw cocoa balls. Since we were kinda broke, our house was usually cold because we never raised the heat above 68-70°F (we were struggling students). On many cold winter nights, my darling roommate would make us some of her special Haitian hot chocolate, and we would bundle up and watch whatever silly show we were into at that time, and fall asleep. Haitian hot chocolate definitely holds a special place in my heart because of the friendship memories it rekindles.

Nowadays, I only drink hot chocolate when I am cold, and honestly, once you’ve had good, rich Haitian hot chocolate, you may not be able to go back to the readymade powdered stuff that comes in a sachet. Not only is Haitian hot chocolate rich and creamy, all the added warming spices lend that extra touch of heat that really warms you up inside.

Since thanksgiving is around the corner, surprise everyone coming over for thanksgiving dinner at your house with a warm cup of this hot chocolate after the feasting is done, and I promise you, they will love you for it. Warning! Your guests might want to move in permanently especially if your thanksgiving spread has these jerk turkey wings, some of the pumpkin spiced Nigerian buns mentioned earlier, and these mouth watering savory fried pies.

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5 from 3 votes

Haitian Hot Chocolate Recipe

Haitian hot chocolate is a rich and creamy beverage, with warming spices lend that extra touch of heat that really warms you up inside on cold winter days!

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: 6

Calories: 146kcal

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp Unprocessed cocoa powder
• 1 ¾ cup Evaporated milk
• 1⁄3 cup Sugar
• 2 Star anise
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• ¼ tsp Salt

Instructions

• Place the Cocoa powder, star anise, and cinnamon stick in a pot with 2 cups of water.
  
• Simmer for 5 minutes on low-medium heat, whisking for dissolve the cocoa powder a much as possible.
  
• Add in the evaporated milk and sugar, and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes on low heat.
  
• Add in the ¼ tsp salt, stir, and turn of the heat. Strain the hot chocolate to remove the spices and undissolved cocoa solids. Serve hot!