Vegan European Drinking Chocolate

My sweet kitty, Tia kept me company for this cup of warm thick and rich drinking cacao. Though, she looked more like she was hunting the birds singing nearby.

Fall has been cold this year. Right before the snow storm last week, the horses have been moved 3 hours away to a lower elevation for the winter. Sigh, my job is finished for the year and I miss their sweet low nickers and whinnies of greetings when I arrived to feed, water and ride them. I do know they are happy to rejoin their herd settle into life there.

Since I live at about 7000 feet in the sky, have a vata constitution, (an acceptance that I live in the clouds, sky, air) and I have been eating mostly raw. I have not wanted to give the raw light food up. Yet, I am cold. My body is cold. Today, wool hats, sweaters and thick socks have come out of storage and layered onto my body. Yoga, hula hooping, hiking are helping to get my circulation to warm up. But then I thought of one of my favorite places in Portland called Cacao and their European drinking chocolate. I paused for a moment this late afternoon, now that sounded warm and really good to me! A chocolate craving to fulfill, I decided on the spot to recreate their wonderful spicy ambrosia sans the dairy milk and see if I could get close to the memory of a fall, wintry cold and rainy, miserable, blustery Portland day. Where a visit to Cacao with my daughter for a warm cup of thick, creamy, dark and rich chocolate drink made all the difference in the world to us. A slice of heaven on earth. The only draw back to that memory was the side affects of dairy on my digestive track about 20 minutes later! Yeah, I am sure I can erase that part quite easily.

I am happy to say that today, I have made my daydream come true. I am only missing the last ingredient. My daughter's company to share a cup with. So I will wait for her return from Norway in January to make that part happen.

You will need a double boiler to make this work. I made one out of a small sauce pan with a stainless steel bowl that nests into but doesn't touch the bottom of the pan. Fill the lower pan with 1/4 water making sure the bottom of the top bowl or pan of the boiler doesn't touch the water level. You only want the steam from the water to heat the upper pot or bowl. Now set the heat to medium low. Do not let the water boil. You do not want to burn the chocolate. The temperature of the drinking chocolate should only come to about 95 degrees max.
This makes enough for 2 small but hearty cups of heaven to share with a best friend/lover - or your daughter!

Add to the upper part of the double boiler:
3 oz bittersweet dark chocolate pieces
1 oz raw cacao powder
8 oz hazelnut or almond milk. (I like hazelnut milk for this, but almond milk will work too)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons agave
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cardamon
teeny pinch of red pepper
1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil

Whisk till smooth and melted. Pour into cups. Drink immediately.