Turn hot chocolate into an instant party by making an Easy Hot Cocoa Bar. Hot cocoa is always a welcome treat, but add a few special toppings to make it extra special. Pulling together a hot cocoa bar takes no time at all, but your family and friends will enjoy making their own spectacular cup of hot chocolate.
Toppings for Hot Chocolate
Here are some of our favorite toppings:
- Crushed Candy Canes– Whiz them around in your mini food processor or blender for perfectly spoonable crushed candy.
- Candy Sprinkles– Any sprinkles will do, but you can emphasized your theme with the sprinkles.
- Whipped Cream– I’m a huge proponent of homemade whipped cream, but for hot cocoa, we indulge in Reddi-Whip so we can easily make mountains of whipped cream swirls on top of the cocoa.
- Chocolate Sauce– A little drizzle does it!
- Caramel Sauce- We love Ghirardelli’s Caramel and Chocolate Sauces! They are great for drizzling on cocoa, waffles, or ice cream.
- Chocolate Shavings– Dark chocolate or white chocolate make elegant toppers for your mug of hot cocoa. Use a vegetable peeler to grate shavings off of a block or bar of your favorite chocolate.
- Cinnamon Sugar or Pumpkin Pie Spice– A sprinkle of either on top adds a lot of flavor.
- Pirouline cookies– These classic rolled cookies are great for dunking in the cocoa. This Gluten-Free coconut version is awesome! I dipped some of them in chocolate to make them even better.
You can pull a hot cocoa bar together in a flash. Just portion out a small amount of each topping and you’re ready to go!
What to Serve with a Hot Cocoa Bar
With all the sweetness in the Hot Cocoa Bar, I like to offer something savory on the side. Store-bought white cheddar popcorn, potato chips, or pretzels make nice quick additions additions. Or you could make these soft pretzels or Apple Cinnamon Snack Mix.
I recently made a Hot Chocolate Bar for my daughter and her friends for their Secret Santa gift exchange after school and it was a huge hit!
