Who Doesn’t Love Hot Cocoa?

Unless you don’t like chocolate (and who doesn’t?!), most everyone loves a hot cup of cocoa. Kids love it. Adults love it. And, you can dress it up or down, make it fancy or keep it simple.

Saturday, December 12, is National Cocoa Day and no camping trip would be complete without a good supply of hot cocoa. Hot cocoa is a must have for cold, winter weather, but it’s also great on a chilly spring morning or a crisp fall evening. It’s even a good way to start the day in the middle of July.

Hot cocoa can be made from scratch or you can grab a packet of the instant stuff and just add hot water. If you’re making cocoa from scratch, remember to add just a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor.

So, how do you spice up or, for the adults, spike your hot cocoa?

Marshmallows and Whipped Cream have to top the list. They are the classic toppings. If you are a marshmallow fan, they come in flavors and multiple sizes for more options.

Make a s’mores cocoa with Marshmallows and crushed Graham Crackers (pictured).

Melt a crushed up Candy Cane or an Andes Mint in your hot cocoa for a minty twist. My daughter has recently started doing this and loves it.

Stir in some Caramel sauce.

Add a dash of Cinnamon for a Latin twist.

Add some Almond Extract or Vanilla Extract.

Mash up a bit of Banana. It might make for some chunks and floaties but you can spoon those out and eat them!

How about using Coconut Milk in place of regular milk?

Melt some Peanut Butter in your hot cocoa or stir in some PB2 powdered peanut butter.

Add a flavored creamer, like Hazelnut or melt some Nutella in your hot cocoa.

Melt in some White Chocolate or, if you make your hot cocoa from scratch, use White Chocolate or Dark Chocolate instead of regular chocolate.

For the adults in the crowd, try adding a shot of Amaretto or Bailey’s Irish Cream or Kahlua or Crème de Cacao to your hot cocoa. Makes a perfect nite cap at the evening campfire.

In addition to the Crème de Cacao, add some Peppermint Schnapps and Crème de Menthe for a peppermint patty style cocoa.

For an almond joy, use Coconut Milk and add Crème de Cacao and Amaretto.

Grand Marnier makes for super-sophisticated, orange and chocolate cocoa.

We hope you’ll give some of these a try and have some fun experimenting. And, feel free to mix and match. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

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15 Ways to Spice or Spike Your Hot Cocoa

Today, December 12, is National Cocoa Day and we couldn’t go camping without a supply of hot cocoa in our food tote. Not much beats it on a crisp spring morning or a chilly fall evening. Even in the middle of July, the kids love to start the day with a cup of hot cocoa. I usually throw a shot of coffee in mine and a little hazelnut creamer or—wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

How do you like to spice up your hot cocoa? Below is a list of all the possibilities we could think of (some for everyone and some just for adults).

Marshmallows have to top the list, but did you know they make flavored marshmallows? We’ve seen chocolate and strawberry flavored, but there may be others.

Melt a Candy Cane or an Andes Mint in your hot cocoa for a minty twist.

Stir in some Caramel sauce.

Add a dash of Cinnamon.

Add some Almond Extract or Vanilla Extract.

Mash up a bit of Banana. It might make for some chunks and floaties but you can spoon those out and eat them!

How about using Coconut Milk?

Melt some Peanut Butter in your hot cocoa.

Add a flavored creamer, like Hazelnut or melt some Nutella in your hot cocoa.

Melt in some White Chocolate or, if you make your hot cocoa from scratch, use white chocolate instead of regular chocolate.

And, hot chocolate isn’t just for kids. For the adults in the crowd, try adding a shot of Amaretto or Bailey’s Irish Cream or Kahlua to your hot cocoa. Makes a perfect nite cap at the evening campfire.

We hope you’ll give some of these a try and have some fun experimenting (says my inner evil mad scientist). And, feel free to mix and match. For example, add coconut milk and almond extract and you’ll have Almond Joy Cocoa! My sister likes to make her cocoa using white chocolate and amaretto.

So did we miss anything? Celebrate National Cocoa Day and please share your own crazy concoctions in the Comments.

Product Review: Have You Never Been Mallow?

For those Lucky Charms fans who eat all the marshmallows out of the cereal—you know who you are—these jet-puffed “mallow” bits are for you!

This has got to be a must-stock item for my camp pantry! My son will demand that this is a must-stock item for our home pantry as well.

What a relief!  I won’t have to listen to the complaints at camp and at home that there are not enough mini marshmallows in the hot cocoa.

Now, I can stock my camp pantry with just one kind of hot cocoa and campers can add mallow bits as they wish.

I can’t count the number of times I have been planning a camping trip with a group and asked the highly controversial question: “Do you want hot cocoa with or without mini marshmallows?” Oh, the heated debate that ensues. This is the Mason-Dixon Line of camping! People either love them or hate them. It’s like the Hatfields and the McCoys! To satisfy both camps, I have always had to stock both kinds and I inevitably run out of one kind and campers have to resort to the (shudder) other kind.

And, just think of all the other possibilities! You could add them to ice cream and brownies. These would melt super-fast if you were making Rice Krispies Treats. And, there has to be a s’mores application somehow. I’ll work on that.

Scrumpdillyicious!

Special thanks to my friend Amy for sharing this and her picture, and my apologies to Olivia Newton-John, who’s song title I corrupted for the title of this post.