Name: Easy Christmas Hot Chocolate - Printable Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 2 min 30 s
Total time: 7 min 30 s
Yield: 1
Cuisine: English
Ingredients: Small Pot; Chopping Board; Sharp Knife; Velvetiser or Saucepan and Whisk; 35g (1.23 oz) Green and Blacks 37% Milk Chocolate; 220ml (3/4 Cup + 1/8 Cup) Whole/Full Fat Milk; 1/4 tsp Christmas Spice Mix #; 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon; 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger; 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg

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Feeling the chill? Need a warming festive drink to snuggle up with? This Christmas hot chocolate is exactly what you need! A rich and creamy chocolate drink, teamed up with classic festive spices. Guaranteed to make you feel cosy, content and Christmassy! Read on for both saucepan and Velvetiser festive hot chocolate methods…

Someone topping a festive hot chocolate with marshmallows

Christmas spiced hot chocolate

When it’s cold outside, there’s nothing better than cosying up on the sofa with a nice warm mug of hot chocolate. And when it comes to the festive season? Time to team it up with some Christmas spices of course!

Think of that gloriously unique Christmas smell, wrapped up in a mug of luxuriously creamy and warming chocolatey goodness. Sounds good right?

While hot chocolate sticks are a wonderful homemade gift, Christmas hot chocolate is more the kind of drink you treat yourself to after a hard day’s work. Or make for loved ones when they come to visit over the festive season. In fact, team this up with some non alcoholic Christmas punch and you’ve got everyone covered!

This particular Christmas hot chocolate recipe can be made in both a saucepan or in a Velvetiser. You’ll find methods for both further down in this post.

If you’re on the fence about buying a Velvetiser, I highly recommend giving my Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser review a read first. I gave it a thorough testing and share my honest findings to help make it easier for you to decide. I get no kickbacks from it whatsoever, and I bought the machine using my own money. So you can be sure it’s an unbiased opinion.

2 mugs of festive hot chocolate with various pots of spices and chocolate

Is hot chocolate a good Christmas gift?

Hot chocolate is a fantastic Christmas gift! There’s nothing more dreamy than settling down to watch a Christmas film, with a blanket and a hot mug of chocolatey perfection.

Hot chocolate stirrers are very popular. You can easily make them at home and change up the flavours/additions to suit everyone’s needs.

Alternatively, you can buy some incredible hot chocolate bombes from The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza company. A fabulous local business who’s Belgian chocolate quality is outstanding!

Someone holding a mug of festive hot chocolate with cream dripping down the sides

How do you make hot chocolate festive?

When I asked lots of people ‘if I said Christmas hot chocolate, what would you expect to get?’, there were some resounding favourites.

Quite a few said chocolate orange, others says a Baileys hot chocolate, but the overall majority wanted classic Christmas spices.

So how do you make hot chocolate festive? You add the perfect balance of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and love. Simple!

A mug of Christmas spiced hot chocolate with gold baubles

Ingredients and substitutions

Confused about what ingredients to buy? Not sure about a substitution? Here’s everything you might need to know…

Milk – I recommend using full fat cows milk for the most rich and creamy results. It will work with virtually any milk though. So plant based alternatives like soya milk and oat milk are absolutely fine.
Chocolate – I’ve found you get the best results from using Green & Blacks 37% milk chocolate. You need quite a rich chocolate to combat the sweetness of the milk. Quality is key here, you will definitely taste it in the results!
Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg – Any brands will work great. Just make sure you get the ground varieties, not whole.

A plate with broken chocolate, biscuits and festive hot chocolate.

Christmas hot chocolate recipe tips

Here are tips you’ll find helpful when making this recipe.

When measuring out spices, it’s important to use proper measuring spoons (not just a teaspoon). Accuracy ensures the perfect balance and flavour.
Use whole (full fat) cows milk for the most rich and creamy Christmas hot chocolate.
Making it in a Velvetiser? It’s really important to chop the chocolate as finely as you possibly can. Otherwise it may not fully melt and could even cause damage to the machine long term.
Even if making in a Velvetiser, I recommend giving your Christmas hot chocolate a good stir before drinking. Just to make sure the spices are blended through and don’t settle at the bottom.
I can’t stress enough how important using a good quality chocolate is. You will really taste it in the end results.
Don’t use milk chocolate that is less than 37% cocoa solids. Your festive hot chocolate will be far too sweet.

A freshly made Christmas hot chocolate on top of a book

Time management

Have limited time? Struggle with recipe timings? Or juggling around other things? Here’s some time managing info to make your life easier.

This easy Christmas hot chocolate recipe is designed to be made as and when you want a mug. You can relieve the prep stress though…

Try finely chopping a few mugs worth of the chocolate in advance, store in an air tight container at room temperature. And have a little pot of the Christmas spice mixture ready to go. This way, the time consuming parts have already been done and it will speed up the process dramatically.

All you then have to do is measure out 220ml of milk, 35g of chocolate and 1/4 tsp of the spice mix. Then melt and enjoy. Easy peasy!

Someone holding a mug of Christmas hot chocolate next to a linen napkin

If you like this recipe…

…you might also like:

Homemade hot chocolate sticks

Christmas Hot Chocolate – Step by Step Picture Recipe

(For a printer friendly version, see the recipe card at the end of this post)

Ingredients

Here is what you will need to make 1 mug. (Easily multiplied.)

Christmas spice mix

This makes enough for about 4-6 mugs of Christmas hot chocolate.

2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg

Hot chocolate

35g (1.23 oz) Green and Blacks 37% Milk Chocolate
220ml (3/4 Cup + 1/8 Cup) Whole/Full Fat Milk
1/4 tsp Christmas Spice Mix *

*Use a level 1/4 tsp for a subtle flavour or a heaped 1/4 tsp for a stronger flavour

Essential equipment

Small Pot
Chopping Board
Sharp Knife
Velvetiser or Saucepan and Whisk

Instructions

First, mix all the spices together in a small pot (2 tsp Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp Ginger, 1/4 tsp Nutmeg) to make the Christmas spice mix, and set to one side.

Next, chop the chocolate (35g | 1.23oz) as finely as you possibly can. This is especially important if you are using a Velvetiser.

Finely chopped chocolate on a chopping board

Add the chopped chocolate, along with the milk (220ml | 3/4 Cup + 1/8 Cup) and Christmas spice mix (level 1/4 tsp for a subtle flavour | heaped 1/4 tsp for a stronger flavour) to your Velvetiser.

Milk, chocolate and spices in a Velvetiser

Then pop the lid on, press the start button and wait for the magic to happen…

If you don’t have a Velvetiser, you can simply melt over a low heat in a saucepan instead. Make sure you stir frequently so prevent the chocolate from catching and burning on the bottom though.

Spiced hot chocolate in a saucepan with a whisk

And that’s it! Told you this was a super easy Christmas hot chocolate recipe!

Christmas spiced hot chocolate with cream dripping down the side of the mug

How to prepare Christmas hot chocolate ahead of time

To lighten the load a little, finely chop your chocolate and make the spice mix in advance. Store them both in separate air tight containers at room temperature.

Now all you have to do is measure and make!

Someone holding a hot cup of Christmas spiced hot chocolate with a book and some gold baubles

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