It’s hot chocolate season! I love Tini’s mac and cheese, so when I saw Tini’s hot chocolate recipe recently, I had to try it.
Come winter, I love getting cozy on the couch, with a heated blanket over my lap and decadent mug of homemade hot chocolate in my hands. If you’ve only ever had instant packet hot chocolate, trust me, it’s not as good as homemade. The only real way to make hot chocolate is from scratch. It’s thick, it’s creamy, it’s full of chocolate-y goodness and after you top it with a dollop of softly whipped cream, all your worries will melt away.
Who is Tini and what is Tini’s hot chocolate?
Tini, aka from Tini’s mac and cheese fameis Tineke Yonger, the presiding TikTok viral recipe creator that is an absolute beast at creating comfort food. Her mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food and her hot chocolate follows suit. Her hot chocolate recipe is at 16 plus million views and countless people have been making it and singing its praises.
How to make Tini’s Hot Chocolate
- Prep – start by gathering all your ingredients and measuring them out. Chop the chocolate and have a mug on hand. If you’re going to make the peppermint whipped cream, I recommend you do that first so your hot chocolate doesn’t cool down while you’re making it.
- Warm – Add milk and heavy cream to a pot and warm it up gently over low heat. You want it warm but not hot, so just be patient. When it starts to warm a little bit of steam will start rising. Giving the milk and cream a stir every so often will help you make sure you don’t burn it.
- Stir – Once the milk and cream are warm, stir in the cocoa powder and sugar until they dissolve. You can use a whisk or a spoon, your choice.
- Melt – When the cocoa powder and sugar have dissolved, slowly add the chopped chocolate in batches, stirring or whisking so that it melts before you add more.
- Thicken – Once all the chopped chocolate melts, you want the hot chocolate to thicken slightly. Let it continue to warm on low heat, stirring occasionally, for about two minutes.
- Enjoy – When the hot chocolate is thick and velvety is time to enjoy! Pour it into your favorite mug, top with your homemade peppermint whipped cream (if you’re having that) and enjoy!
Tini’s hot chocolate ingredients
The beauty of Tini’s hot chocolate is that it has simple ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen – if it’s well stocked. There’s nothing too fussy, all you need is:
Whole milk
Tini prefers whole milk, and I do too because if you’re making homemade hot chocolate, you might as well go all the way. You can substitute in your preferred milk fat type here, it won’t affect the taste, just the consistency. That being said, if you substitute for a milk alternative, the taste will definitely be different.
Heavy cream
Heavy cream also known as heavy whipping cream, whipping cream, full fat cream, or double cream, has the most milk fat of all the creams. It’s what you use to make whipping cream and you’ll find it in cartons, next to the milk. It will give your hot chocolate a thick and creamy velvety texture.
Cocoa powder
Cocoa powder plus chocolate is what makes this hot chocolate extra decadent. Make sure you’re using unsweetened cocoa powder, not sweetened cocoa powder or instant hot chocolate mix. The only ingredient your cocoa powder should have is cocoa powder. You’ll find it in the baking aisle and if you’re fond of baking brownies, you probably already have some in the pantry.
Sugar
Since we’re using unsweetened cocoa powder and a high percent cacao chocolate, you need sugar to sweeten everything and bring all the flavors together. Regular granulated sugar is what Tini uses, but if you have brown sugar at home, that will do too, it will just add a hint of molasses.
Chopped chocolate
You need a nice dark chocolate, at least 70% cacao. The easiest thing to do is buy a bar of dark chocolate – the bars of chocolate in the candy section at the supermarket are perfect for this. One you have the bar of chocolate, all you need to do is chop it up.
Vanilla
Tini uses vanilla bean paste, but if you only have vanilla extract on hand, that will do too! Vanilla paste is usually found in the baking aisle or online.
Homemade peppermint whipped cream
If you’re going to make Tini’s hot chocolate, please make her peppermint whipped cream to go on top. It’s the perfect minty, creamy counterpoint to warm, rich cocoa.
Peppermint whipped cream ingredients
heavy cream – good news, you can use the rest of your carton of heavy cream to make whipped cream!
powdered sugar – powdered sugar dissolves really easily into cream, but if you don’t have any on had, just use a bit of granulated sugar. You won’t need as much, so start with 1/4 cup, taste and adjust as you go.
vanilla extract – again, Tini uses vanilla bean paste but regular vanilla extract will do too.
peppermint extract – you need the tiniest amount of peppermint extract because a little goes a long way.
How to make peppermint whipped cream
- Add 1 cup of heavy cream to a large bowl and whisk until soft peaks form.
- Sift in 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and whisk until all the powdered sugar dissolves.
- Stir in 1/8 tsp vanilla extract and 1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract.
- Dollop onto your hot chocolate!
Tips and tricks
- If you don’t like thick hot chocolate, don’t use the heavy cream, just use 2 cups of milk.
- Make the whipped cream – soft fluffy peppermint whipped cream is so good with hot chocolate.
- If you don’t like peppermint, leave it out, but make some homemade whipped cream anyway because homemade whipped cream is amazing.
- Add some chocolate shavings, festive sprinkles, or crushed candy canes on top.
That’s it! I’m really happy that Tini sparked a whole homemade hot chocolate renaissance. Homemade hot chocolate is way better than packaged and if you’ve never had it, you’ll be blown away. Homemade hot chocolate for life, I hope you give this a try!
xoxo
steph
Tini’s Hot Chocolate Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup whole milk
- 0.5 cup heavy cream
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 oz chopped chocolate 70% cocoa preferred
- 1/8 tsp vanilla
Instructions
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Add the milk and cream to a heavy bottomed pot and heat it gently over low heat, just so you warm up the milk, making sure it doesn’t get too hot. When the milk and cream is warm, whisk in the cocoa powder and sugar until dissolved.
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Slowly add in the chopped chocolate in small batches, whisking and making sure it melts before adding more.
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Add a dash of vanilla and let gently heat for 2 more minutes while the hot chocolate thickens. Remove from the heat and pour into a mug. Enjoy as is or top with mint whipped cream or marshmallows.
Estimated Nutrition
Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 406
