Who doesn’t love a nice cup of hot cocoa after skiing, sledding, or hiking in the snow? It feels so good to get a nice cardio outside and come in to a warm, cozy home and a rich, steaming beverage! With the best Scandinavian hot cocoa, you can indulge in a semi-sweet variation that tastes more like dark chocolate than the sugar packed powdered mixes.
Take some time for your family or yourself this winter to enjoy this nordic treat!
On any winter day our children absolutely love having a mug of hot cocoa either after coming in from playing outside or in the afternoon as something to look forward to to break up the cold, dark winter days. I have to admit I really like it too. It’s like drinking a hot, creamy dark chocolate brownie so you don’t really even need a snack with it!
In our household we’ve adopted (and adapted) some Scandinavian traditions in our family life. One of these is fika. Traditionally ‘Fika’ is a Swedish word for a coffee time and break during the day usually mid-morning and mid-afternoon. We drink coffee too but sometimes change it up with tea “lattes” and hot cocoa. When we’re home all day schooling and living life it’s nice to have a planned time to share a warm drink and talk about our days (or just talk nonsense depending on the age of the children). You can make fika as formal or informal as you want. It can be partaking in a warm drink around your kitchen table or you can decorate and make things “fancy” with china teacups and flowers. The beautiful thing is that it happens every day! And you can tailor it to your taste and schedule. Sometimes we’re fancy, most of the time we’re not.
Scandinavian hot cocoa is really so simple to make. It’s just a two step process!
How to make the best Scandinavian hot cocoa
You’ll need:
- Saucepan
- Stove
- Whisk
- Measuring cup
- Ingredients: milk, heavy whipping cream, maple syrup, butter, cinnamon, cocoa powder
Step 1
Pour milk, cream and maple syrup into saucepan and start warming it up on low heat. I find it helpful to warm the milk up slowly so it doesn’t burn. You could also just use two cups of half and half.
Step 2
Add cocoa powder, cinnamon, and butter. Whisk until it all comes together.
Step 3
Pour into mugs and get cozy!
This recipe makes around two servings- perfect sharing size. It can be made in however large of quantity you need. I usually make a triple batch for our entire family. I hope you relish being outside in winter and I hope this Scandinavian hot cocoa makes your experience even more satisfying and something to look forward to! ~Emily
The Best Scandinavian Hot Cocoa
A velvety rich, creamy dark chocolate drink
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp butter (salted)
- 1/3 cup dark cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- pour milk, cream, and maple syrup into saucepan on medium/low heat
- when the milk is warm increase the heat to medium and add butter, cocoa powder, and cinnamon
- whisk ingredients until melted and well combined (this can easily be accomplished using a hand whisk but an immersion blender or coffee whisk works too)
- make sure to keep the heat low enough that the milk does NOT boil
Notes
instead of whole milk and heavy whipping cream you can use half and half.
Leave a Reply