Last year I showed you my Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, which I love, but you do have to make salted caramel and that's something I'm not always in the mood to do so, this year, I'm showing you a hot chocolate base that you can have on its own, and four delicious variations you can make with it, first we have a rich and fresh Peppermint Hot Chocolate, followed by a warm Gingerbread Hot Chocolate, then a spicy and tingly Chai Hot Chocolate and, lastly, a classic, Orange Hot Chocolate, what more do you need? And do you know what? If you still have some Christmas gifts to figure out, why not add all the dry ingredients to a cute jar, write the recipe on a little tag and wrap it around the jar? A tasty gift that keeps on giving and an affordable one at that...

Hot Chocolate Base

This is the hot chocolate base that can be your blank canvas for any flavour combo you like and for it, you'll need:

In a saucepan whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder and cornstarch. The cornstarch is supposed to make it a bit thicker, but it won't make it solid like a pudding so don't worry. Once it's all combined pour in the milk of your choice and whisk until it's all well blended. Bring the mixture to a light boil over medium heat and stir gently but frequently, once it starts lightly boiling reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for around 20 seconds, stirring constantly so it won't burn. Remove from the heat and, if you're using cream, stir it in.

Now that you have your basic recipe you can stop here and add some marshmallows to make it extra Christmasy or you can go a step further and make one of these.







Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Make your hot chocolate base but this time add some crushed candy canes, as many as you like, depending on how strong you want the flavour to be. Remove the hot chocolate from the heat once the candy canes have completely dissolved. Whip up some cream, it doesn't need to be very stiff, just enough for it to hold in a spoon. Pour the milk into your favourite mug and add a spoonful of whipped cream on top, sprinkle some crushed candy cane on top and then add a candy cane on the side and you're ready for a sweet but fresh treat.

Gingerbread Hot Chocolate

Now, this is a new one for me but I already love it. Once again, make your hot chocolate base but now with a twist, add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger (you can add more or less, according to your own taste), and 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg to the dry mix before you add in the milk. Then proceed as normal. Once you've poured it into your mug you can add a bit of whipped cream, although I don't think it needs it.

Chai Hot Chocolate

This one may seem quite similar to the gingerbread one but wait until you try it. It's more of a twist on your Chai Latte than anything else, but let's move on. Once again, start with our hot chocolate base but this time add around 1 tablespoon of your favourite chai mixture (I particularly like the Twinings Spiced Chai, Palais Des Thés' Chai Imperial and their Spicy Passion) to the dry mix, once you add the milk you'll realize you're basically making a chocolate chai latte and everything will click and make sense and all will be right with the world. Once you're all done make sure to strain your hot chocolate as you pour it into your mug so as not to get any chai bits in your smooth drink. Top it off with some whipped cream, or the classic frothy milk foam, ground cinnamon and whatever you want to help make it prettier and you're ready to warm your soul with this beautiful drink.

Orange Hot Chocolate

This one is already a classic in my home and that's for a reason. To me, nothing screams Christmas like chocolate orange and once I first made this hot chocolate recipe I knew I wanted nothing else on Christmas morning for the rest of my life. As you already know, start with our base but this time add the zest of around half an orange to the mix at the same time you add the milk, this way it'll infuse it perfectly. You can add as much or as little orange zest as you wish, but I like mine quite orangey. If you can't get your hands on a chocolate orange, or any orange chocolate for that matter, you can just add the zest and move on with the recipe as normal but, if you do have some chocolate oranges lying around, chop one or two segments and add them to the pan at the same time as the milk and zest, this way it'll fully melt into the milk, making it richer and even tastier. Pour it into your mug, add a spoonful of whipped cream (although for this one I was actually feeling the milk foam a bit more) and then top it with another chocolate orange segment, this one will slowly melt and you'll occasionally feel a fresh taste swirling around as it does, how tasty does that sound?

And there we go, my five go-to hot chocolate recipes, which one would you love to try?