Hot Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding using EatingEVOLVED's Paleo Hot Chocolate + Collagen

Let me start by saying, we are big hot chocolate fans, and our favorite is from EatingEVOLVED, for sure. We like to buy their Hot Chocolate + Collagen, but you can certainly make this vegan and use their original Hot Chocolate mix.

It hit me one night when I was eating some plain vanilla Chia Seed Pudding (recipe here) and drinking some EatingEVOLVED Hot Chocolate + Collagen (recipe here) that this would probably be a sweet combo. I gave it a try and BAM - I proved myself to be completely and totally right.

The ingredients in this amazing Hot Chocolate + Collagen are: Organic Cacao, Organic Coconut Sugar, Organic Cacao Powder, Organic Cacao Butter, Grass-Fed Collagen

This recipe uses my favorite from Malk Organics. It's called Maple Pecan Milk! It tastes like pecan pie, for sure, but it doesn't have too much sugar, which I am pumped about. I found it at Expo West a few weeks ago, and I literally called all over Orange County to find it. I found it 2.5 hours away in Thousand Oaks, California, at Erewhon Market. All of their nut free milks are vegan, gluten-free, organic, non-GMO and 100% delicious.

I used one of my favorite sweeteners in this recipe from Rigoni Di Asiago called Dolcedi'. It's an organic, vegan, non-GMO, low glycemic, plant-based sweetener made from organic apples, and it's wonderful. You can use it in hot or cold drinks, coffee, smoothies, or for hot chocolate chia seed pudding. I'm just saying that I think it's something you should do.

__________

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Malk Organics Maple Pecan Milk

3 TB EatingEVOLVED Hot Chocolate + Collagen*

1/4 cup coconut cream (or full fat coconut milk)

1/4 cup chia seeds**

1 TB Dolcedi' (or maple syrup or honey)

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt (optional)

*If you want to try this amazing hot chocolate, use the code KRYSTENDTMT and they will add a free gift to your order at checkout. The free gift changes each month.

**I really love MOCU's chia seeds. Right now they are on sale, and if you use my code KRYSTENSKITCHEN you can take off an additional savings.

You can double this recipe, but this worked out to be enough for two ... and let's just say that my husband tried to eat most of mine, too.

DIRECTIONS:

It's best to use the blender for this recipe to make sure that all of the ingredients mix beautifully.

Pour the Malk Organics Maple Pecan Milk, coconut cream, Dolcedi', vanilla and salt into your blender and blend until combined. Mix well. Taste the liquid mixture to see if you would like to add more maple syrup if you would like it sweeter.

Pour the mixture into a medium-sized bowl or Tupperware with a lid. I used two mason jars with lids.

Add the chia seeds and whisk for about 30 seconds to 1 minute until all of the chia seeds are covered in the liquid.

Put the lid on and make sure it is secure, then place in fridge for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the Tupperware and whisk again for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Cover again and put it back into the fridge for at least 1 hour. (Whisking it often prevents the chia seeds from clumping.) It will thicken up immensely during this time.

Serve cold and enjoy it for dessert or even for breakfast and add some EatingEVOLVED paleo chocolate bar shavings on top of that to get fancy.