Gluten-Free Food Storage: Mexican Hot Chocolate

This is the final post of a special 4-week series about food storage with food allergies. Thanks to our guest poster, Ali Kat! Be sure to check out her bio at the end of the post. To learn more about food storage with allergies, check out Ali's entire gluten-free series: Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3.

Mexican hot chocolate might possibly be the most decadent beverage on the face of the earth. I've been making it for about six years, and I have found that few men can handle it's richness, many women get weak in the knees with a small teacup full, and only once have I had someone ask for seconds (she was having hormonal issues). It's just that delicious and powerful. Although I used to make it with milk and real whipped cream, I tried it with soy and was dumbfounded by the delicious results. One sip and I thought I might have lived every moment I needed to before I die.

The magic of this is not only in it's richness, but also in the little bit of cayenne pepper I added. Just enough to give it a bite, but not enough to alter the flavor. If ever you wondered what the moment in the movie Chocolat might be like when Dame Judi Dench sipped that first sip of the hot chocolate, this will answer it for you. Mexican hot chocolate will go with any lovely Spanish feast, but I encourage you to try it with your best women friends first. You'll see reactions in each other you never knew were there.

Mexican Hot Chocolate (Does not contain wheat, gluten, dairy, shellfish, eggs, or nuts)

3 cups soymilk (can be stored at room temperature)
10 oz. of Spanish chocolate, chopped (can be found at specialty stores or Spanish markets)
1 cinnamon stick per person
1 pinch of ground nutmeg
4 granules of ground cayenne pepper person

In a saucepan on medium heat, put soymilk, cinnamon sticks (grate some before you put the sticks in), nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. Stir constantly until liquid begins to boil. Reduce heat, and add chopped chocolate. Let sit for a couple of minutes, then whisk smooth. Poor into teacups and serve. Verbalize your joy loudly.

Ali has primarily lived all over the eastern United States, most recently in the southeast. Her formative years were spent in the northeast with all the other granite stators who like to “live free or die”. She hails from a gigantic Mormon family, where she is the eldest, and evidently the bossiest. She has worked as a photographer and graphic designer for the last 14 years, and also studied clinical psychology at the graduate level. She has been living with known food allergies for over six years, and is involved in the gluten-free community online and in her local area. She writes for her own blog as often as possible, and photographs everything she eats whenever she remembers (which is often), along with everything else that interests her.

To become a fan of Ali Kat’s work, or at least and occasional online stalker, go to her blog at: http://yeagleyspawn.blogspot.com/