3 Hot Chocolate Recipes for Every Occasion

If you are anything like me, the winter season basically means “hot drink season”, and for my kids, that means hot chocolate.

We all love hot chocolate in my family and up until recently, that meant stocking up on packaged powdered hot chocolate.  If I am feeling really fancy, I might pick up a more expensive brand than Swiss Miss but that was always our go to.

Since I have really been trying to replace store bought products with from scratch versions, I thought that hot chocolate would be an awesome one to try this winter.

In my hunt for the best hot chocolate recipe, I came across so many!

What I found is that the recipe that you use really depends on how many people you are serving and how much time you have!

I found three awesome hot chocolate recipes that I am sharing with you here.  Regardless of the event or how many people you are serving, I have a recipe for you.

I am sharing a powdered mix to keep on hand, a stovetop version, for a few cups on a special evening, and a slow cooker version to prepare for a larger amount of people just perfect for your holiday party!

Whether you are serving for a large group at a party, or want to make a quick cup for your kids, there is a recipe here!

Enjoy!

1. Powdered Pantry Version

The first recipe that I am sharing is a great recipe to substitute your powdered packaged mix.  With little kids, I do not want to make a large batch of stovetop hot chocolate to only hand out ½ cups of lukewarm chocolate milk.

This recipe is great to mix up at the beginning of the season and have on hand.

I originally found this from scratch recipe over at Little House Living but I feel like it is still a little bitter so you can add gradulated sugar or powdered sugar to each cup to up the sweetness if needed.

• 1 cup unsweetened Cocoa Powder

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon Salt

I doubled the recipe and put it in a Mason Jar for the season. Add 1-2 Tbls to a cup of warm milk and whisk until blended.

While I am not a fan of powdered sugar hot chocolate, sometime it is hard to wisk in without leaving chucks, and it is never really creamy, this recipe definitely serves the purpose of a quick hot chocolate for the kids.

It does help to sift the mix before putting it into the milk, this breaks up the powder and removes large chucks.

2) Stove top Version

Now if I want to enjoy some hot chocolate, I go for the stove top version.

This recipe is super easy and so good.  If you don’t have heavy cream on hand, you can leave it out but it does give a really great creaminess to the drink.

This is not my original recipe, I found it and have been using it for awhile.  I am not sure where I found it but I did make a few adjustments along the way.

• 2 cups milk

• ¼ cup heavy cream

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1 tsp vanilla

• Powdered sugar

Bring milk and heavy cream to heat, just under a boil.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave and add to the heated milk

Wisk until blended

Add vanilla

Add powdered sugar if it needs to be sweetened.

Pour into mugs and enjoy!

3) Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate

This slow cooker recipe, perfect for a party or large number of people and has been a real hit the time I have made it.

• 1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1/4 c. cocoa powder

• 1/2 c. sugar

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 c. heavy cream

• 6 c. whole milk

Put all ingredients in a slow cooker and put on high for the first hour. Stir it occasionally and lower the heat if it is getting too hot.

I kind of had to monitor it a little because low did not allow it to get warm enough but putting in on high was too much after awhile.

Once chocolate is melted and it is warm, serve. Initially, it was just a tad too bitter for my taste so add some powdered sugar until the sweetness is too your liking, not too much though!

Add whipped cream, marshmallows, peppermint schnapps

Can store for a few days in the fridge.