Winters are the optimum time to up your hot chocolate game, because honestly, what is as comforting on a cold day as a steaming mug of sweet chocolatey goodness to wrap your hands around? But it’s 2022, and we’re so far past regular boring cocoa, it’s time to add a whole new player to the hot chocolate game. Enter sweet potatoes.
Now, we admit it sounds like a bizarre plan to add what is generally considered a starchy carb to a drink, but then we already have the basis of America’s Thanksgiving Yams and Marshmallow combo which just proves that they can sometimes make a delectable pair.
The reason this actually works is that sweet potato actually have a lot of natural sugars – the clue was already in the name – and when they’re slow roasted these natural sugars have time to caramelise and bring out all the best flavours of the vegetable. A bonus benefit of this wild recipe is that the sweet potato actually provides an extra dose of nutrients like Vitamin A and potassium in a tasty, sippable package.
While the recipe below has been tailored to be vegan, you can of course sub in regular chocolate and marshmallows if that fits your diet although we do recommend sticking with almond milk if you can since it adds an extra dimension of flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 small sweet potato
- 1 cup vegan dark chocolate chips
- 3 cups unsweetened almond milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Small pinch kosher salt
- Marshmallows and Whipped coconut cream for serving
Method
- Scrub and dry a sweet potato, and then prick it several times with a fork.
- Wrap it in foil and bake it in a preheated oven for about 45 minutes or until fork tender.
- Cut it in half and scrape out the soft flesh and add it to a saucepan with chocolate chips.
- Stir until they’re melted and then add in the almond milk.
- With an immersion blender, blend it until it’s a thick smooth consistency.
- Stir in the vanilla, a pinch of salt and then serve hot topped with marshmallows or coconut cream.