Today is September 27th. It’s National Chocolate Milk Day!
Why is this important? Let me tell you…
I love chocolate milk. In elementary school I drank it 3 times a day, and that continued, although not at that frequency still today. For me, it’s pretty perfect the way it is. But with anything in the culinary world, something can always be made better. The chocolate milk I drink now is different than the one that I drank as a child.
That milk was always skim, with Hershey’s chocolate syrup. These days, I either use 1% or 2% milk and I use Hershey’s dark chocolate syrup now, as it’s way more my aesthetic than the regular chocolate syrup. Plus, it’s not nearly as sweet. But still, this is pretty basic as far as chocolate milk goes. So let me give you some new ideas.
For your basis yet still slightly jazzed up, take my basic morning chocolate milk.
Zoe’s Morning Chocolate Milk
Yield: 1 Serving
-1 cup 2% Milk
-1 TBSP Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Syrup
Pour milk into your cup of choice, add syrup, and stir with a spoon. ENJOY.
*Recipe pictured is doubled
For your normal chocolate milk lover, this would probably be enough. It’s interesting enough and just slightly different from the chocolate milk you’d get at any restaurant or elementary school to make most people say, “Oh that’s good!” But let’s go bigger. Go big or go home, right?
In recent years, the idea of mixing salt and chocolate took off. Every chocolate came in milk, dark, white and salted. So let’s make Salted Chocolate Milk. If it works with a chocolate bar, a cupcake and a brownie, why not with chocolate milk? If I’m being honest with myself, and I always am, just adding some salt is not enough for me. So I’m going to amp that idea up a little more. What if… I took the idea of salted chocolate and added in two more elements? As a chef, I always enjoy adding a little extra to something in order to make it that much more complex.
So today I made Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Pretzel Milk.
I’ve never made this before mind you, so this was an experiment!
Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Pretzel Milk
Yield: 1 serving
-Caramel Sauce (Garnish, use on the inside of the glass)
-2 TBSP Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Syrup
-1 Cup Milk
-1 TSP Brown Sugar
-1/2 TSP Sea Salt
-Salted Pretzels (Garnish, as needed)
-Whipped Cream (Garnish if desired)
Mix chocolate syrup into the milk. Add the brown sugar and continue stirring until dissolved. Add in the sea salt and stir a few times until fully combined. Top with caramel sauce (just a single swirl is fine) and garnish with a pretzel rod or whatever shaped pretzel you prefer.
*The recipe pictured is doubled
Oh! If the idea of drinking chocolate milk (and having all that sugar) scares you, consider this. Chocolate milk functions extremely well as a post-workout or post lifting drink. While you can go out and buy premade drink mixes filled with electrolytes. Chocolate milk contains healthy fats, a variety of enzymes and naturally occurring electrolytes, which can speed your recovery and make you feel better after a workout. Now, I always drink chocolate milk after a workout, but that’s mostly because I just like it, and I wouldn’t recommend the more… unique chocolate milk recipe I am including in this article.
My final note about chocolate milk is if you’re over 21, and you want to make your chocolate milk more adult, add some Bailey’s Irish Cream, Amaretto or RumChata to your wonderful chocolate drink. Personally, it’s not my thing, I like the purity of a simple chocolate milk, but seriously, feel free, I’m sure it’s delicious. Some other additions to chocolate milk that you might want to try are:
-Cinnamon
-Cayenne Pepper
-Chile Peppers
-Coconut Cream
-Vanilla or Almond Extract
-Nutella
-Star Anise
And if you do make our Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Pretzel Milk, please, take a picture and show us! We’d love to see it!