The coziest of all winter beverages, this s’mores hot chocolate packs a double punch of graham crackers and chocolate and is topped with toasty, gooey marshmallows.
Two weeks ago, my boyfriend Gabe and I took a mini ski trip vacation in the Catskills. I had never skied before in my life, surprising to Gabe considering the fact that I half grew up upstate. Even though he hadn’t skied in years, he picked right back up on it again like riding a bike, while I was… not very good at it. By the end of our ski day I finally started to pick up on it, but by that point I was cold, wet, tired, and ready to cozy up back at our little cabin. While skiing was fun, and I’ll definitely try it again, for me the highlights of our trip were the cozy trappings. Namely s’mores and hot chocolate. And while I didn’t combine the two at the time, that trip is what inspired this, maybe the coziest recipe of all time: s’mores hot chocolate.
A DOUBLE DOES OF GRAHAM CRACKERS AND CHOCOLATE
Any hot chocolate can be topped with toasted marshmallows and claim to be a “s’mores” hot chocolate. So in order to make this s’mores hot chocolate truly embody the spirit of its namesake, I gave it a double dose of graham cracker and chocolatey goodness. The first dose of graham crackers comes from a crushed graham cracker rim on the mug. And that’s also where the second dose of chocolate comes from; I dipped the rim of the mug in chocolate syrup before coating it in crushed graham crackers. This ensures that every sip of hot chocolate comes with the honey-flavored crunch of graham crackers and an extra jolt of chocolate.
The second dose of graham cracker-ey goodness in this s’mores hot chocolate actually comes from the milk itself. Inspired by Milk Bar’s cereal milk soft serve, I soaked crushed graham crackers in the milk before using it to make the hot chocolate, infusing all of their flavor into the milk itself. Once you use that milk to make the hot chocolate, you’ll be sure to taste graham crackers in every sip. And of course, this wouldn’t be a s’mores hot chocolate without toasted marshmallows. I like to toast mine right over the open flame of my gas stove to really recreate that campfire feel. But if you don’t have a gas stovetop, you can also toast marshmallows on a sheet pan under the broiler.
S’mores Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
- 3 cups milk of choice
- 10 whole graham crackers
- 1/4 cup chocolate syrup
- 4-8 marshmallows
- hot chocolate mix of choice
Instructions
- Roughly crush 6-8 graham crackers and soak them in the milk for about 15 minutes, until the milk tastes of graham crackers. Strain the graham crackers out.
- Toast your marshmallows either on a skewer over a gas burner or under the broiler in the oven for 1-3 minutes, until golden brown.
- Finely crush the remaining graham crackers (around 4 of them) either using a food processor or by putting them in a ziplock bag and crushing them with a rolling pin. Spread the graham cracker crumbs evenly on a plate. On a separate plate, spread chocolate syrup.
- Rim your mugs by dipping the rims in the chocolate syrup first, moving the mug around to ensure ever bit of the rim is coated. Then dip the rim into the graham cracker crumbs, again moving it around and pushing it down to adhere them to the rim.
- Make your hot chocolate following the directions of the hot chocolate mix, only using your graham cracker infused milk. Gently pour hot chocolate into the rimmed mugs and top with toasted marshmallows.
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