Hot Cocoa: Simple Quality Time With Your Mate

This holiday season, forget the dinner reservations, expensive bills, and long hours spent waiting at the bar for a table. Make arrangements with your friends to enjoy some hot cocoa by the fireplace. Organize a small dinner party in the comfort of your own home that involves little to no hassle for yourself. The following tips are ways you can enhance a quiet evening with your friends over one steaming cup of rich hot chocolate.

1. Play around with that hot cocoa. Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate is always tasty, no matter which flavor you select. But there are ways of enhancing the flavor of your hot cocoa that will make this classic beverage much more enjoyable (and even memorable).

2. Add whipped cream and use regular chocolate or rainbow sprinkles for a final touch. You can even drizzle the whipped cream with some chocolate syrup.

3. Add a cinnamon stick along with a generous topping of whipped cream. Consider sprinkling in some ground cinnamon for a stronger flavor.

4. Add a peppermint candy cane, so the minty flavor will melt right into the hot cocoa.

5. Top your cup of hot chocolate with all-natural gourmet marshmallows. These are usually handmade, and they definitely taste better than the regular store-bought marshmallows sold at the local supermarket.

6. Experiment with different flavors of melting chocolate paired with a cup of hot cocoa. Taza offers a wide variety of flavors, which include Cinnamon, Vanilla Bean, Guajillo Chili, Salted Almond, Yerba Mate, and Cacao Puro Chocolate Mexicano.

7. Apply just a sprinkle of cayenne pepper to your cup of hot cocoa. Depending on your tolerance for spicy food and drink, adjust the amount of cayenne pepper you add to your drink.

8. Instead of sweetening your hot chocolate with white sugar, try brown sugar for a more grainy and earthy taste.

9. Consider purchasing Godiva Milk Chocolate Cocoa Powder or Godiva Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder, which is best prepared using milk versus regular hot water. The result is much more creamy with a heavy, if not slightly bitter, cocoa taste.

10. For a challenge, try making some white hot chocolate. Ground up a bar of white chocolate and heat some milk. Once the white chocolate completely melts, pour the hot milk over the chocolate and mix thoroughly. Then, add a cinnamon stick and some whipped cream.

In different cultures, hot chocolate can be paired with a range of foods, some of which are unexpected. Don’t go for the easy options, like gingerbread cookies or biscuits. Try out the following suggestions the next time your friends come over:

1. For a really sugary treat, pair your cup of hot chocolate with a few churros. Churros are a fried-dough pastry that originated in Madrid. The typical working man’s breakfast in Spain consists of a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of churros.

2. Hot chocolate also goes great with croissants and toast. Set out some jam, honey, and butter for your guests. Nutella, a hazelnut-based spread, goes great on regular toast and has a cocoa flavor which will complement the hot chocolate.