homemade

On cruddy, rainy, windy days like this, everyone loves a steaming cup of hot chocolate. It's a comforting way to warm up, and a nice treat for kids and grownups alike. Out of those little packets of Swiss Miss that hang out in the back of your kitchen cupboard (or used to)? Don't worry—making hot chocolate from scratch is way easier than it sounds, and uses only a few simple ingredients. In fact, we actually tried out a few different recipes in our kitchen as we searched for the best hot chocolate ever.

Did you know that chocolate, in its first form, was consumed as a drink? Spanish conquistador Cortés found chocolate being consumed at the court of Aztec emperor Moctezuma, and the Aztecs in turn adopted the custom of drinking chocoloate from their Maya neighbors to the south. The big difference was that the native Mexicans drank their chocolate cold, mixed with cornmeal and flavored with various herbs and hot chilis.