Homemade Gingerbread Hot Chocolate

This homemade gingerbread hot chocolate is so much better than a store-bought mix and just as easy! It’s cozy for Christmas or any chilly evening.

A few weeks ago our nephews came to visit. They are 5 and 7 years old and lately we have been building forts, watching movies and eating popcorn more. However, this time we decided to do cooking experiments as an activity. I found an old book of cooking experiments that my mom had passed down from when I was a kid, and the book opened to a page that said, “A project to heat your own hot chocolate.” Perfect! This “hot chocolate project” was really about making homemade hot chocolate… with a few twists! Read on for this gingerbread hot chocolate recipe and some fun cooking experiment ideas for kids.

How to make homemade hot chocolate

Have you ever tried making homemade hot chocolate? Saving a few pantry ingredients is a cinch! And you don’t even have to think about buying those store-bought packets of hot chocolate. They often contain a lot of added sugar and even arbitrary preservatives. Making homemade hot chocolate is as easy as heating milk with cocoa powder and sweetener. Since we love natural sweeteners, we 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. Well, how did this gingerbread hot chocolate come about? Continue reading.

This gingerbread hot chocolate

Back to those nephews! We decided to start the Heat Your Own Hot Chocolate project and make homemade hot chocolate. The recipe is so simple: 2 cups milk, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, and 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sugar). Once you heat them together on the stove and whisk them together, the recipe is pretty much done. Which in itself was exciting! My nephews thought it was pretty cool that we could make it from scratch. They were also intrigued by my maple syrup sweetener. We tried the homemade hot chocolate and it was so good! (Her words.)

Then the funny thing about the cooking experiment “Hot Chocolate Project” was that it involved infusing hot chocolate with flavors and then tasting them. For example… mint extract! Cinammon! Ginger! My nephews and I started sifting through our closets for whatever I had on hand, including lots of random things like almond extract and even cardamom. We put our homemade hot chocolate in small jars and added little bits of new flavors. Peppermint? Too minty! orange blossom water? yuk! While playing with combinations, a nephew decided we needed a pinch of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. It smells like gingerbread! I exclaimed. And the recipe for hot chocolate with gingerbread was born.

That’s why we’ve saved the Hot Chocolate Project recipe for you here. A little milk, cocoa powder, maple syrup and gingerbread spice ingredients (cinnamon, ginger and allspice) and the Christmas hot chocolate is ready! It’s perfect for any snowy evening, but of course the holiday season is peak season for gingerbread hot chocolate! If you want to make it vegan, use soy milk or go to our vegan hot chocolate recipe. Let us know if you make this Gingerbread Hot Chocolate. This is becoming a tradition here!

When you’re in the mood for a decadent treat, top this gingerbread hot chocolate with our homemade whipped cream!

Thanks Colby and Dylan for collaborating on this recipe 🙂

This recipe for hot chocolate with gingerbread is …

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

Looking for more holiday treats?

Aside from this Gingerbread Hot Chocolate Recipe, we have plenty of Christmas treat recipes at A Couple Cooks! Here are some of our favourites:

Looking for more drink recipes?