Hot chocolate with hazelnut butter

Do you know what  snow  smells like? No, it’s not just the smell, it is a mixture of scents, colors and a special holiday mood when it looks like you are magically transferred to one of the typical villages from Christmas cards. It smells like snow when it’s so cold outside that everyone is in a hurry to get home, when it smells like wood in the fireplace and when decorated Christmas trees greet us from the balconies. The smell of snow for me is the smell of happiness and childhood, it makes me nostalgic and I start thinking of a far away town and time when I was waiting for an improvised Christmas market to be open,  a market that for me was an entrance to a magical world full of glittering decorations and lights, always in a mood and festive spirit. I always looked for the most beautiful greeting cards and ornaments for my Christmas tree, carefully selected them and brought home as the greatest treasure a child can own. It was a great feeling to wake up and see through the window snowflakes dance  and the entire town covered with snow, giving everything a festive look. It was even better spending the day on the snow and coming back home where a glass of hot chocolate and  the house smelling of baked cookies were waiting for me.
Today, after a long time, it smelled of snow, and for a moment I was back to my childhood, and I wanted to make hot chocolate. Not just an ordinary hot chocolate, from a glass of milk and cocoa, but the one that looks like pudding, the one normally served in bars and coffee places, the hot chocolate I don’t buy anymore because it’s full of sugar. I was able to make it look like the one from coffee shop and also  go one step further towards perfection, by adding hazelnut butter to it, which gave it an amazing flavor. Try it, and let me know if you like it.

HOT CHOCOLATE WITH HAZELNUT BUTTER

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups rice or coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5-6 dates
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon hazelnut butter
• 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt

Instructions:

1. Pour milk into a blender and add, one by one, all the ingredients (except salt).
2. Blend about 1-2 minutes until dates are completely broken down.
3. In a medium pan heat the mixture over medium temperature, add salt, stir and remove from the heat before it boils.
4. Pour the hot chocolate into mugs and add a bit more hazelnut butter.