Homemade Hot Chocolate with Chocolate Chips

I recently found these cute hot chocolate mugs for kids, and I couldn’t resist creating my own homemade hot chocolate.

Kids love hot chocolate, but you will be surprised by the added ingredients in store-bought hot cocoa mixes.

Some include a lot of sugar and unnecessary thickening ingredients like cornstarch. So making a hot cocoa recipe at home is the best way to make healthy hot chocolate for your family.

How To Make Homemade Kid Hot Chocolate With Chocolate Chips

It’s easy to make a simple homemade hot chocolate recipe that kids love. It doesn’t have to be complicated or take hours. So here’s my 5-minute hot chocolate recipe for you to try this winter.

Ingredients

To make this homemade hot cocoa, you need only 4 ingredients:

• Milk of Choice – I used calcium-fortified soy milk to keep the recipe dairy-free, but of course, you can use any milk your kids love, including regular milk, coconut milk, or almond milk. I love fortified dairy-free milk because it also contains essential vitamins for kids. Kids are picky eaters, so if a treat like their hot chocolate can add nutrients to their day, it’s amazing.
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder or cacao powder –  you can also use some sweetened cocoa powder with vitamins like Milo powder. However, if you use a sweetened version, skip the sweetener, or the hot cocoa will be too sweet.
• Maple Syrup or unrefined granulated sugar like coconut sugar- both are healthy sweeteners for a healthy hot chocolate recipe for kids.
• Dark Chocolate Chips or a few squares of chopped dark chocolate tabs – hot chocolate is not hot cocoa. It contains real chocolate! So the best is to choose healthy, low-sugar chocolate like dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa.
• Vanilla Extract or peppermint extract.

Warming The Milk

First, pick milk that your kids love. It can be dairy-free milk like soy milk, almond milk, or regular milk.

Then, use one of the options below to warm the milk. Personally, I prefer the stove method, but you can use your microwave if it makes things easier.

Option 1: Stove Method

This is my favorite method, but next, I will provide a microwave option for the mums who don’t have time to work on a stove version.

In a non-stick saucepan, add milk, unsweetened cocoa powder, and sweetener. Whisk and bring to medium heat to warm milk. Don’t boil, you want the milk to be warm and ingredients well combined, that’s it.

Option 2: Microwave

You can make this home hot chocolate in the microwave as well. Bring all the ingredients, except the chocolate chips and vanilla,  into a microwave-safe mug.

Microwave for 1 minute until hot, then stir in the chocolate chips.

If they don’t melt very melt, return in the microwave in 15-second bursts, stirring between, until the chocolate is fully melted and it forms a creamy hot chocolate.

Stirring In The Chocolate

Now stir in the chocolate and keep cooking over medium heat, stirring to melt and incorporate the chocolate into the milk.

Stir in the vanilla extract just at the end before serving.

Serving

Serve the hot chocolate immediately and wait a few minutes before offering it to kids as it’s hot.

Serving Ideas

Kids love hot chocolate with toppings or flavors.

Below I listed some fun toppings you can add to their hot cocoa:

• Whipped Cream
• Sprinkles – since it’s the Christmas season, I used Christmas sprinkle.
• Mini Marshmallow – I found lovely vegan mini marshmallows that are not only good but contain no gelatin.
• Dust of Cocoa Powder
• Peppermint Essence – stir in about 1/8 teaspoon of essence per serve to a peppermint hot chocolate.
• Crushed Candy Cane – that adds sugar to the drink so maybe skip the maple syrup if you add candy in the hot chocolate, or it will come out very sweet.

Doubling Up The Recipe And Make Ahead

You can double or triple the recipe without a problem and even cook everything in a crockpot. Crockpot hot chocolate are very trendy because they feed a crowd and they are easy to make-ahead for the holiday season.

If you plan to make ahead the hot chocolate, always keep it in a warm place like an insulated bottle or crockpot because if the hot chocolate cools down, the melted chocolate migrates to the bottom of the drink and hardens.

Homemade Chocolate Mix

This recipe is amazing for kids who want to make their own Christmas gift for teachers.

This homemade chocolate mix without powdered milk is great because it lasts for months, and it’s beautiful to offer in small paper bags.

Then, kids can decorate bags with stickers and add the instructions for adding that 1 cup of hot milk!