PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS ALCOHOL AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE!!!
Every year around the holidays, everyone starts their holiday traditions. Whether its breaking out the decor or dressing in holiday sweaters. But I think my very favorite thing to do during the holidays is read holiday romances. Every year I read holiday romance after holiday romance. And in almost every single one I get so much pleasure out of seeing the things they’re doing while anticipating the holidays. And almost every time, there’s someone who makes the BEST sounding hot chocolate there is. And then I’m left craving it until I can get my hands on it. Most times its a mere mention, while others have entire recipes, their favorite toppings, or their favorite additions. And by then I’m stuck wanting all of it. So follow me through this post as I try the hot chocolate that stood out most to me that I’ve read THIS YEAR. (Because again, I’ve read A LOT of holiday books from years past lol)
So I love hot chocolate, but I don’t have it often on account of where I’m from. We don’t have cold weather often. And I know you’re thinking “But you like coffee!” I do. But mostly when it’s iced lol Anyways, because I love it so much, I always have so much fun noticing it when I read it in books. And if it sounds good enough, I might even try it too lol I even notice when a main character says they don’t like it a certain way, or in event where its not mentioned at all!
Here’s some favorites from this year!:
So after reading all these (plus some because I had to read A LOT to prove my theory lol Thrillers. Mysteries, Romances, all of em) I finally convinced myself and my husband that Hot Chocolate is the superior drink of the season! And all because you can make it up and dress it up however you want to! So of course I had to make some to see which ones I like the best lolol
Adult
So out of these, I think I tried 4 out of 6. The peppermint I did was Peppermint Schnapps although I didn’t use Oat Milk like Belen did and I’m almost positive that it wasn’t what she used in The Christmas Catch since it was Christian Fiction lol But before I added the Schnapps I added the crushed candy cane sprinkles from McCormick, so I think that should count lol I didn’t have any candy canes on hand because my husband hates mint. (There’s not much that he does like apparently smh lol) Going along with those sprinkles, I also tried the Cinnamon one with some white hot cocoa mix from Better Goods. It was actually really good. I also tried the one with Kahula from A Novel Christmas. And y’all, this was so good! So I have no idea why tf she had to keep messing up the imagery and saying she also had some with some Don Julio tho. Now Charity, whyyyyyy would you do that to her? LMAO Needless to say I wasn’t trying that one.
MG & YA
First I tried the kind from All the Jingle Ladies lol Which was regular but at a movie premiere. I tried it while I watched the animated Grinch with my son for the first time. He was hesitant the whole time, but once we watched it, we watched it three more times smh lol Just yesterday I tried the Salted Caramel from Make My Wish Come True. I’m almost positive that it wasn’t better than the homemade one that won a competition, but the Swiss Miss kind is actually pretty good lol Unfortunately I didn’t try the one from A Curvy Wonderland because I didn’t have the sprinkles, but I DID make some with some whipped cream. I didn’t get a picture because I have a toddler who thought he was supposed to be drinking the whipped cream too and, yeah no lol
Misc.
-Because I’m me, I also found out that there is such a thing as Red Wine Hot Chocolate. I know what you’re thinking….. Probably the same thing my husband was when he turned his nose up as I was making it. (As seen in the picture there.) But hear me out. Its supposedly richer and more choclatety, and boozy. And yeah, that sounds good to me. Soooooo yeah, I made it. And honestly, my husband is extra af because I thought it was actually good. And it’s really simple to make actually. I’ll link the recipe that I made. But I’m not going to tell every ingredient since you might choose a different wine than me lol Above is the progression of the chocolate because I felt bougie af lol
Have you ever noticed how hot chocolate is often times in a holiday book? Are you going to randomly start pointing it out now too? Let me know in the comments!