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15 Ways To Instantly Upgrade Your Hot Chocolate

Happy Hot Cocoa Day, everyone!

We all know that hot chocolate is one of the few saving graces of winter. Along with fireplaces, sweaters and long-simmering stews, a piping hot mug of cocoa is one of the things that gets us through the coldest, darkest months of the year. December 12 is National Hot Cocoa Day, and in light of that fact, we want to kick your hot cocoa up a few notches.

We all have a basic hot chocolate recipe that we love. That is a perfect foundation to build upon. What makes good hot chocolate great? Upgrades, dudes. Below, you'll find a few of our favorites.

1.

Homemade Marshmallows

Brown Eyed Baker
2.

Toasted Marshmallow Cream

How Sweet It Is
3.

Cinnamon & Cayenne Pepper

A Beautiful Mess
4.

Booze

Pass The Sushi
Whiskey, peppermint schnapps, Cointreau -- your imagination is your only limit... as long as you're an adult.

Get the Rich n’ Thick Adult Hot Chocolate recipe from Pass The Sushi
5.

Churros

Annie's Eats
6.

Mini Gingerbread Houses

Megan Reardon
You can go ahead and pretend you've ever seen anything as cute as this, but we're pretty sure you haven't.

Get the Mini Gingerbread Houses recipe from Not Martha
7.

Nutella

Gimme Some Oven
NUTELLA HOT CHOCOLATE, YOU GUYS.

Get the Nutella Hot Chocolate recipe from Gimme Some Oven
8.

Candy Canes

A Beautiful Mess
9.

Coconut

How Sweet It Is
This recipe features both coconut milk in the hot chocolate itself and a toasted coconut rim on the mug. COCONUT MANIA.

Get the Crockpot Coconut Hot Chocolate recipe from How Sweet It Is
10.

Crushed Oreos

The Recipe Critic
11.

S'Mores Fixings

Minimalist Baker
12.
13.

Salted Caramel

A Beautiful Mess
Salted caramel is already in everything else. Might as well add it to your hot chocolate!

Get the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate recipe from A Beautiful Mess
14.

Chai

Lauren Witter
15.

Giving It Away As A Gift

Cook The Story
They say it's better to give than receive, so once you've perfected your hot chocolate recipe, jar it up and send it on its way!

Get the Mexican Hot Chocolate Powder Mix recipe from Cook The Story

If we missed your favorite way to spike, dip, dunk or otherwise adorn your hot chocolate, let us know what it is in the comments!

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