Homemade Gingerbread Hot Chocolate

A few weeks ago, our nephews came to visit. They’re 5 and 7, and most often lately we make forts and watch movies and eat popcorn. This time, though, we decided to break out some kitchen experiments as an activity. I found an old Kitchen Experiments book my mom had passed on from my childhood, and the book fell open to a page that said “A Heat Your Own Hot Chocolate Project.” Perfect! This “hot chocolate project” was really making homemade hot chocolate…with a few twists! Keep reading for this gingerbread hot chocolate recipe, and some fun ideas for kitchen experiments for kids.

How to make homemade hot chocolate

Have you tried making homemade hot chocolate? If you stock a few pantry ingredients, it’s easy as pie! And you don’t even need to remember to buy those packets of storebought hot chocolate. Which, many times have lots of added sugar and even random preservatives. Making homemade hot chocolate is as simple as heating milk with cocoa powder and a sweetener. Since we like natural sweeteners, we’ve sweetened this homemade hot chocolate recipe with pure maple syrup. We always keep a bottle of pure maple syrup in the fridge, so it’s perfect for sweetening hot chocolate. Now, how did this gingerbread hot chocolate come to be? Keep reading.

This gingerbread hot chocolate

Back to those nephews! We decided to take on the “Heat Your Own Hot Chocolate Project” and make homemade hot chocolate. The recipe is so simple: 2 cups milk, 2 tablespoons cococa powder, and 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sugar). Once you heat those together on the stove, whisking so that they come together, the recipe is basically complete. Which, was exciting in itself! My nephews thought it was pretty cool we could make it from scratch. They were also intrigued by my maple syrup sweetener. We tasted the homemade hot chocolate, and it was SO GOOD! (Their words.) Then, the fun thing about the “Hot Chocolate Project” kitchen experiment was that it said to add flavorings to the hot chocolate and then taste them. For example…Mint extract! Cinnamon! Ginger! My nephews and I started to raid our cabinets to find anything I had on hand, including lots of random things like almond extract and even cardamom. We put our homemade hot chocolate into small glasses and added little bits of new flavors. Peppermint? Too minty! Orange blossom water? Yuck! As we played with combinations, one nephew decided we needed a pinch of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. It tastes like gingerbread! I exclaimed. And the gingerbread hot chocolate recipe was born. So, here we’ve recorded the “Hot Chocolate Project” recipe for you. A bit of milk, cocoa powder, maple syrup, and gingerbread spice ingredients (cinnamon, ginger and allspice), and you’re ready with Christmas hot chocolate! It’s perfect for any snowy evening, but of course the Christmas season is peak gingerbread hot chocolate time! If you’d like to make it vegan, use soy milk or head to our Vegan Hot Chocolate recipe. Let us know if you make this gingerbread hot chocolate. It’s going to become a tradition around here! If you’re up for a decadent treat, top this gingerbread hot chocolate with our Homemade Whipped Cream! Thanks Colby and Dylan for collaborating on this recipe :)

This gingerbread hot chocolate recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten free. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, go to Vegan Hot Chocolate.

Looking for more holiday treats?

Outside of this gingerbread hot chocolate recipe, we have lots of Christmas treat recipes on A Couple Cooks! Here are a few of our favorites: 4.3 from 14 reviews

Gingerbread PancakesRaspberry Braided BreadChristmas Cranberry Pudding with Butter SauceChocolate Banana BreadSoft Gingerbread CookiesPeppermint MeringuesChai Spiced Russian Tea CakesThe Best Soft Ginger Molasses CookiesShortbread Cookies with Chocolate DrizzleCherry Quinoa Chocolate BarkHealthy Peanut Butter Buckeye Balls