Cozy up with a delicious cup of homemade hot chocolate. This easy recipe will have you sipping on a dreamy, creamy, chocolatey drink in no time. Plus, check out our video tutorial for the perfect cup every time!
Hands down the creamiest dreamy homemade hot chocolate! No more taking a couple of sips and throwing the rest away, you’ll gulp down every bit of this one! The taste of real chocolate in every gulp!
Oh Cade, you and your hot chocolate obsession are ridiculous. I’ve personally never cared that much for hot drinks, apple cider, hot chocolate, tea, bleh. I like ice water, aren’t I lame? But after moving to Utah and experiencing winter for 9 months of the year I’ve really started to enjoy homemade hot chocolate.
This hot chocolate is made out of love for Cade because he loves hot chocolate. He grew up eating cocoa and toast. He actually dips buttered toast in the hot chocolate. Are you kidding me? It gets soggy, sweetheart! I don’t get it!
We had a chocolate fountain at our wedding (don’t judge it used to be cool) which used a mix of milk or semi sweet chocolate and white chocolate which was just dreamy so I knew I wanted to go with a combination again. And of course whole milk and heavy cream add to the creaminess, but the real secret is the sweetened condensed milk.
Cade is all about that in his drinks and even cereal thanks to his time serving his mission in Brazil (yes even his cereal and Brazilian lemonade and gosh darnit jello, and even his lime pie all call for it thanks to Brazil.)
What is the Difference Between Hot Chocolate and Hot Cocoa?
Hot chocolate is made from melting real chocolate and mixing it with milk, cream and/or water. It is usually more creamy in texture and more rich in flavor.
Hot cocoa is make from the cocoa powder and sugar mixture combined with either hot milk or hot water.
Hot cocoa and hot chocolate are often used interchangeably as the name of a warm chocolate beverage even though they are technically different.
Ingredients for Hot Chocolate
We include all the ingredients you’ll ever need to make creamy, rich hot chocolate with bold chocolate flavor. Here is your grocery list:
- Heavy Cream
- Whole Milk
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
- White Chocolate Chips
- Milk Chocolate Chips
The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card below.
Watch How to Make Hot Chocolate
This traditional Wassail recipe has been handed down for generations! It’s one of the most comforting easy holiday drinks. It’s a delicious nonalcoholic warm cider drink with the cozy flavors of orange and apple with cinnamon and spices!
I don’t think there’s a single wassail recipe worth it out there except for my mom’s! It is so delicious. We excitedly make it as soon as it gets cold–and it’s a must when you’re sick. Nothing feels better on a scratchy throat than warm wassail. Yum!
And because we aren’t the biggest fans of cold weather, warm drinks are a definite must. Cade and the girls love hot cocoa and toast, I still have yet to try it as the soggy bread weirds me out for sure. I always stick to this dreamy wassail!
What is Wassail?
Wassail is the cozy version of apple cider. Our recipe is made with cloves, apples, cinnamon, lemon, orange, ginger, and nutmeg and is a nonalcoholic wassail recipe. Scroll down to discover our secret ingredient! There’s one we didn’t mention!
It’s pretty flexible so feel free to add different amounts of juice or substitute other kinds that you like better. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Ingredients for Homemade Wassail
How many fruit juices can you put in a hot wassail recipe? We are out to set a record because it’s so dang good…including that secret ingredient I mentioned above! Here is all the ingredients you will need to make this irresistible holiday beverage:
- Water: the base of the wassail
- Sugar: I often cut this down or leave it out since there is a lot of sugar in fruit juice.
- Cinnamon Sticks: adds flavor
- Allspice: adds flavor
- Cloves: adds flavor
- Crystallized Ginger: adds flavor, you can also use a 1/2 inch chunk fresh ginger or a 1/2-1 tsp powdered ginger
- Unsweetened Apple Juice: grab a bottle at the grocery store
- Pineapple Juice: the secret ingredient, man it adds such a delicious flavor
- Unsweetened Orange Juice: you can squeeze your own orange juice or buy bottled unsweetened oj
- Lemon Juice: freshly squeezed is preferred
The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.
Watch How Homemade Wassail is Made…