Baby... It's cold outside! Healthy hot chocolate and bonus chocolate chip cookie recipe!

There's no two ways about it: the cold sucks. It sucks. I've heard people say they like winter, but even those people complain about the cold and so I can only assume that their reasons for enjoying winter are unrelated to the temperature. Perhaps, in spite of it.

Being residents of Canada, we sometimes have to live with cold... In Toronto, we don't suffer nearly as much as some other regions in Canada, but suffer we do. As an adult, I feel, I've learned a few life lessons... Several, actually, but on the subject of cold: hibernating or being in denial about our climate for 4 months out of 12 months really is no way to live. So, I try to go about my schedule... Sometimes that means when I run and it's -21 Celsius with the windchill, the inside of my nose freezes... And I spend the next 24 hours in coughing fits in a near catatonic state while my joints thaw out......... Hey, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right???? Plus, running on a treadmill makes me feel kinda like a gerbil. So, I say: stop running from the cold!!! Embrace it... then take some time to reward yourself. Enjoy my decadent and (sort of) healthy hot chocolate with coconut "whipped cream" and cookies!

Healthier-than-yo-mama's chocolate chip cookies

1/4 cup oat flour
1/4 hazelnut meal
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup flax meal
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
5 tbsp liquified coconut oil
4 tbsp almond butter
2 tbsp raw honey
2 tbsp chia/water mixture or "chia egg replacer" (2 parts water, 1 part chia seeds or chia meal)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Add all dry ingredients to a bowl and mix. Add 2 tbsp chia "egg", honey, almond milk, almond butter, coconut oil to food processor and blend until thoroughly mixed. Add wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until doughy consistency. The mixture should feel a bit like sticky play dough. Add chocolate chips and knead in with your hands until thoroughly distributed. If you find the mixture a bit dry, add a bit more coconut oil and/or almond milk. Evenly space dough on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 14 minutes, until golden brown.

Rich, frothy hot chocolate:
1 chia "egg"
2 cups vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate
1 tsp raw honey

Mix vanilla almond milk and chia "egg" in a food processor or in a bowl with a hand mixer. Add chocolate chips to mug and add just enough almond milk mixture to cover chocolate. Microwave for 1 minute 15 seconds. Slowly mix in the remaining almond milk mixture and microwave for 1 minutes. Stir.

Coconut "whipped cream":
1 can full fat coconut milk
1/2 tsp raw sugar or sweetener of choice

Refrigerate coconut milk for a few hours. Open can and scoop out only the hard coconut fat from the top of the can into a bowl, leaving the remaining milk in the bottom (the remaining coconut milk can be used in another recipe or mixed into a smoothie). Use a handmixer to blend the mixture until smooth and you can form soft peaks.

Add the "whipped cream" to your hot chocolate and serve!

Bon appétit!
Talia.