It is about this time of year that my girls start begging me for hot chocolate. They don't want the packets either. They want hot chocolate made from scratch. It really only takes a few extra minutes to make a delicious cup of hot chocolate from scratch, so most of the time I can stop what I'm doing and whip up a pot. I should warn you before I give out our recipe that no one in your family will ever want the packet hot chocolate again.
You will need the following ingredients to make homemade hot chocolate:
- Cocoa
- Sugar
- 2% milk
- Half & Half
- Vanilla
- Mini-marshmallows
- Cinnamon
- Candy canes
Follow these instructions to make the homemade hot chocolate:
Step 1:
Pour 2 1/2 cups of 2% milk and ½ cup of half & half in a medium sized pot.
Step 2:
Add 3 Tbsp. of cocoa, and 6 Tbsp. of sugar to the pot and bring to a boil. Stir the ingredients continually.
Step 3:
Pour in 1 tsp. of vanilla and remove the hot chocolate from the heat.
Step 4:
Separate the hot chocolate into three cups. You can adjust the recipe if you have more than three people in your family.
Step 5:
Top the cups of hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and hang a candy cane off to the side with the rod sticking in the hot chocolate.
Step 6:
Serve hot.
Tip: Some people like to ditch the marshmallows and use whipped cream instead. This is just a personal preference. We like the marshmallows because they begin to melt and taste great in the hot chocolate.