I have been trying to make a good cup of homemade hot chocolate for a while now. Most of the premade hot cocoa mixes have ingredients that I don’t recognize (even some of the really expensive mixes). And when I find a mix that has ingredients I recognize, I keep finding myself thinking that I should be able to make it at home and with less sugar. So after many iterations, my family and I have finally settled on this recipe. The kids and I did a lot of tastetesting to get to this point – it’s a rough job, but in this case, the kids were champs in helping out.
Hot Chocolate
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Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 5 cups
This makes about 5 cups of cocoa. You decide how many that serves! I also use a pretty minimum amount of sugar – I recommend starting there and adding a little more as you need. I’ve seen recipes that use up to four times as much as this, but it seems unnecessary to me.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup of half and half, heavy cream, or whole milk
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 1/3 cup of cocoa powder
- 4 cups of milk (use whole, if you have it)
- 1/2 -1 t of cinnamon (optional)
- 1/4 t of nutmeg (freshly grated, if you have it) (optional)
- 1 t of vanilla
- mini marshmallows, for serving (optional)
- whipped cream, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the 1/3 cup of half and half with brown sugar in a small sauce pan set over low heat. Heat and stir just until the sugar disolves
- Add cocoa powder and 4 cups of milk. Heat and stir with a whisk until just warm enough for drinking.
- Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla just before serving.
- Add marshmallows and whipped cream at serving time.
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