Styling a Hot Cocoa Bar

Styling a Hot Cocoa Bar can be a festive and interesting way to display fun, delicious toppings that can be added to hot cocoa.

This week in the northeast we have had temperatures in the single digits with the wind chill below zero. Brrr! Looking out through steam filled windows at the snowy ground and feeling a slight draft made me realize it is time for a hot cocoa bar! Nothing says comfort like a mug of warm, melty chocolate!

Hot chocolate is one of those “memories in a cup” that everyone can relate to. My memory is of snowy winter days and being outside until my mittens were soaked and my fingers numb. Whether I was just playing, ice skating, skiing or sledding, I always came inside to a warm cup of cocoa with marshmallows floating on top. What is your memory?

The History of Hot Chocolate

We tend to associate hot cocoa with the cold weather of winter, unless it’s a frozen hot chocolate on a warm summer day. The Olmecs, thought to be the first to use chocolate over 4,000 years ago in Meso-America, came from a warm climate. They used it for medicinal and ritual purposes.

Later, the Mayans adopted the use of chocolate as a beverage by mixing the cacao with water cornmeal and hot chili peppers. They would pour it back and forth between pots to create a froth which they then drank cold.

The Aztecs would go on to use the cocoa beans as currency and revered it as an aphrodisiac. Apparently, the explorer Cortes received a cup from and Aztec emperor and brought the beans back to Spain in the 1500’s. The Spaniards added sugar and honey to sweeten the drink and served it warm.

Cocoa was a drink of the wealthy. By the 1600’s, chocolate started spreading throughout Europe both as a drink and candy. The 1800’s brought the invention of the cocoa press making it easier to produce and more accessible.

There is a difference between hot chocolate and hot cocoa! Who knew?! Hot chocolate is a bar of chocolate (cocoa, sugar and cocoa butter) melted into simmering milk. Hot cocoa is made by stirring ground cocoa powder into simmering water or milk and then sweetening it.

The Method of a Hot Cocoa Bar

Whether you are making hot chocolate, hot cocoa or even the instant hot cocoa packets, it is so much fun to create a bar full of special treats to enhance your drink. Figure out a good location that is easy to reach by even your smallest of drinkers.

First, make a list of goodies you would like to have on hand and gather them together. Ask your family what they would like to have. Also, try adding something homemade like my candy cane dipped marshmallows on wooden skewers!

Next, pull out some different containers to make it pretty! Think mason jars, cute tins, pretty bottles and fun decor! Placing mini chocolate chips, m & m’s and Pirouline cookies in jars looks so much nicer than the packaging they come in.

Finally, decorate your space!

Toppings for a Hot Cocoa Bar

• candy canes
• Hershey Kisses
• mini chocolate chips
• M & M’s, malted milk balls
• crushed candies: Heath Bars, Butterfingers, peppermints
• shaved chocolate
• sprinkles
• marshmallows and mini marshmallows
• cookies
• Pirouline wafers
• pretzels, cereals, coconut flakes
• Torani flavored syrups
• whipped cream
• sauces: chocolate, salted caramel
• sea salt, cinnamon, cayenne pepper
• of course adult add ins: Bailey’s, Kahlua, rum, bourbon, Creme de Menthe!

Alternatives Forms of a Hot Cocoa Bar

Don’t want a permanent bar set up? No problem! You can create a hot chocolate charcuterie board! It is the same principle, but artfully place everything on a large cutting board. You can have fewer items and you don’t even need extra containers. You can make your hot cocoa in a slow cooker and keep it warm at the same time.

Make it portable! Head outside to a bonfire or a playdate with a large handled tray holding your toppings. Place the cocoa in a large thermos to keep it warm. Try serving my Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies or some s’mores with your cocoa!

The Essentials: