Red Velvet Hot Chocolate

🧾 What You’ll Need

Ingredients

One thing that’s NOT scary about this hot chocolate? The ingredient list! Here’s what you need to know: (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

• Semi-sweet hot chocolate: Whenever possible, I recommend chopping up chocolate bars instead of using chocolate chips. Most chips you get from the grocery store are waxy and don’t have a strong, deep chocolate flavor. Using good-quality bars will give you a better hot chocolate flavor and texture.
• Milk: you can use any milk you have on hand. As with all things in life, the more fat, the more rich and creamy it will be, but even skim milk will make a decent cup of hot chocolate, if that’s what’s available to you. I typically use 2% milk fat.
• Cream cheese: The cream cheese is the extra sumthin’ sumthin’ that separates this from typical hot chocolate. I recommend using cream cheese that comes in a block instead of a tub.
• Brown sugar: I like adding a bit of brown sugar to counteract the tang of cream cheese, and add a bit of caramelized sweetness. You can skip it if you like a less sweet drink.
• Salt and vanilla: Both contribute to the complexity of flavor!
• Red food coloring: People have very strong feelings about food coloring, so feel free to skip or modify this recommendation based on personal preference. If you do use food coloring, I recommend a good-quality gel food coloring, because it will take less coloring to give you a strong, vibrant shade. I use Americolor Super red gel food coloring.

Equipment

The only equipment you’ll need is a medium (3 or 4 qt) saucepan, a whisk, and some type of blender to mix the milk and cream cheese. I like using a stick blender because it’s faster, easier, and produces fewer dishes, but any type of blender will do.

📋 Instructions

Red Velvet Hot Chocolate is bloody simple to make! Here’s a quick photo rundown, and you can find full printable instructions in the recipe card down below.

Blend milk and cream cheese

• Pour the milk into a 3 or 4-quart saucepan, and add room temperature cream cheese.
• Use an immersion blender to mix them together until smooth, creamy, and no lumps remain. (Alternately, you can blend them in a separate blender then pour the liquid into a saucepan and proceed.)

Add remaining ingredients

• Add the chocolate, vanilla, brown sugar, and salt to the saucepan.
• Place over medium heat and warm the milk, whisking occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted and your mixture is smooth.

Color and serve!

• If you are using food coloring, time to add it! Give your pot a few generous squirts of food coloring until you get a red you’re happy with.
• Serve hot, in spooky skull mugs…if you dare.

❤️ More Spooky Halloween Desserts

• Witch’s Brew Halloween Punch
• Slice and Bake Halloween Cookies
• Zombie Brain Brownie Bites
• Brain Cupcakes
• Red Velvet Marshmallow Spiderweb Cake