Hot Drink Recipes For Winter

Few things take the chill off like a hot drink. You can make winter drinks for kids or adults, for individuals or for a crowd. They might contain alcohol or they might not. There’s a lot of versatility in winter drinks! Here are some winter-warming drinks for you to serve up to family and friends.

1. Low-Carb/Sugar-Free Hot Chocolate (serves 1)

You can make this a dairy-free hot chocolate, too, by substituting unsweetened almond, rice, or soy milk for the cow’s milk.

Ingredients:
* 1 cup milk
* 1 heaping tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
* pinch salt
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/8 teaspoon Stevia extract powder (pure, no fillers)

Heat milk in a microwave-safe measuring cup for 90 seconds. While it heats, put the cocoa, salt, vanilla and Stevia into a mug. Pour about 1 tablespoon of the hot milk into the mug and stir briskly to make a paste. Then gradually add the rest of the hot milk, stirring as you go to prevent lumps from forming. Adjust Stevia to taste.

2. Hot Creamsicle (alcoholic, serves 1)

This hot drink uses vanilla ice cream!

Ingredients:
* 1 scoop vanilla ice cream
* 2 tablespoons orange liqueur (or to taste)

Place ice cream in a microwave-safe mug. Melt at intervals of 10-15 seconds each (high power), stirring between intervals. When ice cream is melted and hot, stir in orange liqueur.

3. Hot Ice Cream Nog (non-alcoholic, serves 1)

Ingredients:
* 1 scoop vanilla ice cream
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* pinch of ground cloves

Heat ice cream in a microwave-safe mug using the same method described in recipe #2 above. When it’s hot, stir in the milk and spices.

4. Minty Nut Milk (serves 1)

Vanilla nut milk works best for this recipe, such as almond or hemp. You can also use vanilla soy or rice milk.

Ingredients:
* 1 cup vanilla nut milk, sweetened
* 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon mint flavoring
* 1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste

Heat nut milk in a microwave-safe measuring cup for about 2 minutes. Place the cocoa powder, mint flavor and sugar in a mug. Slowly stir in the hot milk to prevent lumps.

Variation: if you don’t have mint flavoring, stir hot drink with a peppermint stick.

5. Creamy Coffee Nog (serves 1)

Ingredients:
* 3/4 cup brewed coffee, hot
* 1/4 cup store-bought or homemade eggnog
* Sugar or sweetener to taste
* Whipped cream
* Ground nutmeg

Stir the eggnog into the hot coffee and add sugar to taste. Top with whipped cream and ground nutmeg.