Luxury hot chocolate

Set up a hot chocolate station with all the toppings, then let people help themselves to create their own take on the ultimate hot chocolate

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1.5 litres whole milk
• 3 tbsp demerara sugar, plus extra to taste
• 100 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150 ml single cream
• dark rum, whisky, brandy, Disaronno or Baileys
• squirty cream
• Cadbury flakes
• (available from Waitrose and ocado.com) Chloe’s Hazelnut & Cocoa Wafers
• cinnamon sticks
• ground cinnamon
• chocolate chips
• mini marshmallows
• fudge chunks

Steps

1. Put the cocoa in a large bowl or jug and mix in enough cold milk to make a smooth paste. Put the rest of the milk in a pan and bring to a simmer. Whisk the milk into the cocoa paste until everything is incorporated then pour back into the pan. Add the sugar, chopped chocolate, vanilla and cream, and heat gently, stirring until everything is combined. Sweeten with extra demerara sugar to your liking.
2. Pour the chocolate into heatproof glasses and let everyone add their own toppings.