Peppermint Hot Chocolate
This peppermint hot chocolate walks the line between festive and everyday, making it just as suitable for a Tuesday evening as it is for a Christmas party. It's creamy, rich, and gently minty.
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Peppermint Hot Chocolate
- 🕰️ Prep Time: 5 minutes
- ⏰ Cook Time: 10 minutes
- 🍫 Flavor Profile: Cozy, warming hot chocolate stirred with a festive candy cane.
- 🎄 Good For: Decking the halls, enjoying with Christmas cookies by the tree, warming up after shoveling the driveway.
- ❤️ Difficulty: Couldn't be easier.
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🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hi friend: I'm gonna be honest, but I don't understand folks who don't like hot chocolate. What's not to like? It's warm. It's cozy. IT'S CHOCOLATE. I whip up a batch of this peppermint hot chocolate every year when we decorate our tree, and I think you'll love it too!
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- The richest chocolate: Using chopped dark chocolate instead of cocoa powder gives you the richest, creamiest hot chocolate you've ever had!
- So easy: No need for any fuss. Just warm and stir, then serve up with a nanaimo bar or piece of my vegan fudge! Or double up on the mint with a gooey candy cane butter cookie!
- Perfect for cozy-ing up by the tree: My perfect Saturday afternoon is spent curled up by the tree with a mug of peppermint hot chocolate, a chocolate snowball cookie, a cozy blanket, and a great book. It's also great for warming up after some time in the snow!
🍫 The Ingredients You Need
- Dark chocolate: Instead of powdered cocoa, I like to cut up really dark chocolate bars (70%+ cacao) and melt those in. The melted chocolate makes it 100 times more rich and decadent than the powdered stuff. Trust me, it's worth it.
- Peppermint extract: Investing in some good peppermint extract is totally worth it. I don't know if you've noticed, but lower quality peppermint extract tastes so much like straight up alcohol. I love the Nielsen-Massey Peppermint Extract. It's not cheap, but a little bit goes a long way.
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Shortcut peppermint hot chocolate: You can make a shortcut peppermint hot chocolate with my homemade hot chocolate mix.
- Add some caffeine: Try my peppermint mocha recipe for a jolt of caffeine!
- Make it in the crockpot: Add some peppermint extract (¼-½ teaspoon) to my slow cooker hot chocolate for a big batch you can serve at a party!
- Go dairy-free: Replace the milk and half-and-half with one 13-ounce can of full-fat coconut milk, and one 13-ounce can of lite coconut milk for a decadent dairy-free hot chocolate. Just make sure your dark chocolate doesn't contain any milk!
🥣 Peppermint Hot Chocolate How-To
Step 1: Whisk the maple syrup with the half-and-half, milk, and salt and heat it through. Keep the heat on low to medium-low so the milk doesn't scald!
Step 2: Stir in the chocolate until it is entirely melted.
Step 3: Add the vanilla and peppermint. Ta-da! Peppermint hot chocolate!
🙋🏻♀️ Peppermint Hot Chocolate FAQs
Peppermint extract is by far the easiest way, and you'll want to pick a quality one so that it actually tastes like mint...and not alcohol. For even more minty goodness, add some crushed candy canes or drape a mini candy cane over the edge of your mug. You could also add a little peppermint extract to your whipped cream as you whip it for a minty garnish!
Try a peppermint schnapps or creme de cacao to add a boozy emphasis to the chocolate and mint flavors. You could also use the vanilla vodka that I call for in my peppermint martini!
👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Chop it up: You don't want the milk to scald or form a film while you're waiting for the chocolate to melt, so be sure to chop up your dark chocolate into small pieces before stirring it in.
- Make it festive: Garnish with mini marshmallows, festive sprinkles, mini candy canes, and/or whipped cream for a sweet festive drink.
🎄 More Festive Drink Recipes:
If you tried this peppermint hot chocolate recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 1 ¾ cups half-and-half
- 1 ¾ cups 2% milk
- Pinch of sea salt
- 4 ounces dark chocolate 70%+ cocoa, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½-1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- Whipped cream, marshmallows, sprinkles, and candy canes optional for garnish.
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the maple syrup, coconut milk, and salt. Bring to a simmer, then remove pot from heat.
- Stir in the chocolate, and continue stirring until the chocolate is completely melted.
- Stir in the vanilla extract and peppermint extract, starting with ½ teaspoon of the peppermint and adding more if desired. Pour into four mugs, and top with whipped cream, marshmallows, sprinkles, or candy canes (if desired).
Video
Notes
- To make this hot chocolate dairy-free, use one 13-ounce can full-fat coconut milk and one 13-ounce can lite coconut milk in place of the half-and-half and dairy milk. You'll also want to check that your chocolate is dairy-free!
- The dark chocolate makes this hot chocolate super rich and decadent. Since it can take some time to melt, be sure to cut it into small pieces before adding it to the hot milk!
Nutrition
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This peppermint hot chocolate is a staple in our house all December long. Give me a mug of this, a fire in the fireplace, lights on the tree, and Bing on the record player, and I'm a happy, happy girl!
So so yummy! Only had 1.5 oz of cocoa so added just 3 level tblspn of Hershey's unsweetened cocoa and it still turned out really creamy and tasty. I did finish mixing in the blender to get the clumps out. A 1/2 cup tops was plenty as it's so rich. Saved some for breakfast in the a m. To mix my collagen in!
What brand of dark chocolate would you recommend to make this?
I love the Ghirardelli bars—anything darker than 70%. 🙂
Thank you! This looks so good that I need to make it?
Simply i would say "All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt"
I tried the hot chocolate yesterday, and it was so good. If I had known it was so easy to make hot chocolate, I would have been making homemade for a while now. Thanks!!
It is sooooo good any easy! Mmm, I want some now. 🙂
Nice Santa mug. Where did you find that?
From Walmart, in their clearance section, probably 3 or 4 years ago. 🙂
I am making your peppermint hot chocolate today! Can't wait!!! Yay for Christmas lights, decorations and all things Christmas!!! We are putting up the tree, lights and decorations today 🙂
Jen
I'm so happy I came across your blog (via Spark)! I really want to start eating more organic so I'm reading as much as I can. Love the peppermint mocha and I love your boots!