Tuesday, August 26, 2025

How to Make #LowCarb FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE with #ProteinCollagenBoost from Cleo Coyle #keto


From Cleo CoyleThis version of Frozen Hot Chocolate is insanely easy to make yet still quite tasty. It can be enjoyed as an icy chocolate drink or fun frozen dessert. Also, depending on how you choose to make it, this chocolate treat can be made sugar-free and even boost your daily intake of protein and collagen. I'll show you how in today's recipe. But first, I'm happy to share this drink's inspiration...

Did you know the "Frozen Hot Chocolate" orginated her in New York City? It began with Seredipity, a wonderful word that means finding the pleasantly unexpected by chance.

It's also the name of a legendary café that began in the basement of a New York Brownstone. Three bohemians launched the white-washed space as a hipster coffeehouse of the 1950’s. Four tables, sixteen chairs, and one giant, old espresso machine were all they needed to attract nightly lines around the Upper East Side block.

Serendipity 3 cafe - photo by Ben W courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Serendipity 3 Frozen Hot Chocoalte
By Tduk Alex Lozupone,
courtesy Wikipedia Commons


The trendiest of avant-garde types were soon packing the place, including Andy Warhol, who declared it his favorite sweet shop. (As legend has it, he paid his checks with drawings.) 

These days, Serendipity has a much different vibe. The Tiffany lamp-decked ice cream parlor is packed with happy tourists, families, couples, and kids celebrating birthdays.

Many decades may divide Serendipity’s past from its present, but one delicious bridge closes all gaps: chocolate. FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE to be exact. Serendipity is world famous for it.

Although you may not have this legendary café in your town, today I’ll show you how to make a simple, inexpensive home version of their famous frozen hot chocolate...

How’s that for serendipity?




Cleo Coyle writes two
bestselling mystery
 series with her husband.
To learn more, click here.

☕ A Note from Cleo

Some recipes for frozen hot chocolate make no sense to me. Heat up milk and cool it again? Use 3 cups of ice, which dilutes the chocolate flavor? There is a better way, and even a way to make it a low-carb, sugar-free, chocolate treat with a protein & collagen boost.

There are many products on the market that can turn this recipe into a good-for-you experience. I'll show you how in the recipe below...

May you eat with joy and in good health! 

~ Cleo




To download a free PDF
version of this recipe 
that you can print, save
or share, click here.

Frozen Hot Chocolate 
by Cleo Coyle 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 one-ounce packets of your favorite hot chocolate or cocoa mix. If using loose powder, measure out enough to make two servings. *See my notes below on making this recipe sugar-free/low-carb and even a boost to your daily intake of protein and collagen.

2 cups milk (skim, whole, dairy or non-dairy such almond or soy milk)

1 ounce of semi-sweet or dark bar chocolate, finely chopped or grated 
*Again, see my note below on making this recipe sugar-free/low-carb.

Whipped cream (optional, for my non-dairy whipped cream recipe click here)


* * * Options * * *


*LOW CARB, SUGAR-FREE OPTION: To make the drink low calorie and low carb, look for brands of hot chocolate or cocoa with no added sugar. See below on how to turn this drink into a nutritional boost to your protein and collagen. There are also many good low-carb, sugar-free bar chocolates on the market. If you neeed a suggestion, try Lily's sugar-free chocolate bars or the ChocZero brand products.

*GOOD-FOR-YOU PROTEIN & COLLAGEN BOOSTING OPTION: Many products on the market today help boost protein and collagen while providing a tasty chocolate drink. If you want a suggestion, I use the Perfect Keto Chocolate-Flavored Collagenwhich delivers grass-fed collagen and 9 grams of protein per serving with no added sugar and only one net carb.



Directions:

Step 1 – Make "Hot" Chocolate Milk: Whisk one of your two packets of hot chocolate mix into your cup of cold dairy or non-dairy milk (you'll use the second packet later in the recipe). As noted above, if using loose hot chocolate powder instead of packets, or a product like a chocolate collagen drink, then simply measure out enough powder to make the equivalent of one serving and mix it into the cold milk. 

TIP: No need to heat the milk as some recipes direct. Simply whisk the milk and hot chocolate mix for 60 or so seconds until the powder is dissolved. Be sure to use a real whisk, not a spoon or fork. You’re finished when the liquid resembles smooth chocolate milk with no sign of powder or granules.

Step 2 – Make "Hot Chocolate" Ice Cubes: Pour the cold chocolate milk mixture into an ice cube tray. Chill in your freezer until solidly frozen. TIP: When ready to use, if the frozen chocolate cubes stick to the ice tray, simply set the bottom of the tray in a lukewarm water bath and use a knife to dislodge the cubes quickly and carefully. 



Step 3 – Repeat and Blend: Using your second packet of hot chocolate to create another cup of chocolate milk. Place this milk in your blender with the "hot chocolate" ice cubes. Pulse the blender to chop the frozen cubes into fine particles. You are creating a slushy drink with small ice chips (like a frozen margarita). As an option for a super chocolatey finish à la Serendipity's famous Frozen Hot Chocolate, see Step 4 below...

Step 4 – Optional Choco-fication: Add most of the finely chopped (or grated) dark or semi-sweet chocolate into the blender with the hot chocolate slushy (holding back some of the grated chocolate for garnish). Pulse once or twice to mix. Pour into cups or mugs. Finish with whipped cream (dairy or non-dairy), then a final sprinkling of grated chocolate and…eat with chocolate joy!


For My Non-Dairy Whipped Cream Recipe

Click here or on the image below...



Eat (and read) with joy!


CLEO COYLE is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are New York Times bestselling authors of the long-running Coffeehouse Mysteries, now celebrating more than twenty years in print. With more than 1 million books sold, they have gained an enthusiastic following. Cleo's "relentlessly entertaining" (Criminal Element) novels have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, and Czech; earned starred reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus; received Best of Year selection honors from multiple reviewers; and have been recommended by Booklist as among the best culinary mysteries for core library mystery collections. Alice and Marc are also bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, Toho, and MGM. They live in New York City, where they write independently and together, including the nationally bestselling Haunted Bookshop Mysteries.


Visit Cleo's online coffeehouse here.

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"EASILY ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS THAT I HAVE READ THIS YEAR...10 STARS!"  Escape with Dollycas into a Good Book 

 

"A KNOCKOUT STORY....one of the best books in this endearing series...a TERRIFIC READ..." —Dru Ann Love, Raven Award-winning reviewer, Dru's Book Musings






No Roast for the Weary is also a culinary mystery with a killer menu of delicious recipes. Click here or on the image below to see the free illustrated guide to our book's recipe section...

Click here or the image above for
Cleo's Free Illustrated Guide to
the recipes you'll find published in
 No Roast for the Weary.



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7 comments:

  1. That Frozen Hot Chocolate looks amazing, Cleo. I can't wait to try it, and I like the healthier option too. I have loved your coffeehouse books for years. No Roast for the Weary was a great read. Keep up the good work and recipes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks delightful. Your wonderful pictures sure help. I can almost taste the chocolate!

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  3. Gonna make this tomorrow. I have hot chocolate packets left over from last winter. Good way to use them up and cool off at the same time!

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  4. Cool idea. Never heard of frozen hot chocolate, but I'm up for chocolate anything. I loved Bulletproof Barista and Honey Roasted. Binged them both on audio this summer. So much fun! Next up is No Roast for the Weary. I'm borrowing from the library for my Labor Day weekend reading (and checking out the recipes). Thanks, Cleo, for writing such enjoyable books.

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  5. So fun thank you for the recipe. Deborah

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  6. Creative! But frozen and hot seem like, contradictions. Although, I found frozen cubes for making smoothies, at the Grocery Outlet.

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  7. Thank for the look delicious, sounds amazing FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE recipe!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

    ReplyDelete