Hi Protein Chef! Summer's coming to a close, and I'm looking to stock up on healthy fall treats. I'm a sucker for a steaming cup of hot cocoa, but I know it's packed with sugar and fat. Are there any healthy, protein-heavy alternatives?
A few years ago, I went on vacation to the north of Italy. It was winter, and it was cold. Everything was blanketed in snow—cars, buildings, everything. It was there, in the midst of that beautiful winter wonderland, that I fell in love with cioccolata calda.
Cioccolata calda literally means "hot chocolate" in Italian, but it's wildly different from the hot chocolate that you and I probably grew up accustomed to. Cioccolata calda is thick. It's rich. It's dark. It's delicious. And, man, it's intense!
So, when I got a request for a high-protein hot chocolate recipe, I couldn't help but draw my inspiration from Italy's cioccolata.
The result is crazy. It's crazy because it's luscious, sugarless, low carb, and, at the same time, jam-packed with protein POW! It feels indulgent, but guess what? It's far from it. It's protein wizardry at its best. Here's the recipe.
Note
Be careful with the xanthan gum. The stuff is crazy powerful. If you use too much, whatever you make turns extremely gummy and gains a kind of unpalatable "toothpastiness." Xanthan is an awesome thickening agent, but just remember that a little goes a long way.