One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to sip on some hot chocolate by the Christmas Tree watching a holiday classic on TV.   This Cacao Mint Almond Milk is sweetened with dates and gets it’s chocolaty taste from raw cacao.  I also use Young Living’s Vitality Peppermint Oil to give it the perfect amount of peppermint flavor.  I love adding this to my morning matcha or drinking it warm on its own.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups raw almonds
• 4 ½  cups filtered water + 2 cups for soaking
• 1 cup pitted dates (about 21 dates)
• ¾ cup cacao powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 drop peppermint essential oil (just one!)

Directions:

• Place almonds in a bowl and cover with filtered water.  Water should completely cover the almonds. Let soak overnight.
• Drain and rinse almonds.
• Place rinsed almonds into a high powered blender.
• Add 4½ cups filtered water, dates and cacao, vanilla extract and peppermint oil.  Blend until beginning to get frothy.
• Using a nut bag, strain milk from almonds pulp.  Be sure to squeeze all the liquid out.*
• Store in a glass jar in the fridge.

Notes:

*I love to reuse the leftover almond pulp to make cookies.