THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS.

I love a good hot chocolate and so do my kids, this recipe makes the BEST HOT CHOCOLATE it's made on the stovetop. It's the kind of hot chocolate the memories are made of!

Perfect in fact for stargazing. Te Iwa O Matariki are visible this time of year, make hot chocolate for your family, look up to the stars and think about the year to come.

Table of Contents

Mānawatia Matariki (Celebrate/Honour Matariki) with a mug of the best hot chocolate!

2 light pink mugs sitting on a wooden board filled with hot chocolate.

Why This Recipe Works

Easy to make
Absolutely delicious, loved by both kids and adults
The perfect hot drink to have around during the winter, especially while you look up to the sky to see Te Iwa O Matariki,

Ingredients you will need

To make my hot chocolate recipe you will need milk, cream, cocoa vanilla essence and milk chocolate.

Ingredients to make the best hot chocolate laid out on a bench top with text overlay.

Substitutes

Milk and Cream: If you wish to avoid dairy you can substitute for your preferred milk and cream substitutes

Milk chocolate: If you prefer you can make this hot chocolate with dark chocolate.

Step by step instructions

Step one: In a saucepan heat the milk and cocoa, use a whisk to ensure the cocoa dissolves into the milk, as the milk heats the cocoa will dissolve more easily

A saucepan filled with milk and cocoa powder.

Step two: Add the chocolate, and vanilla heat and stir until the chocolate has melted

A woman's hand holding ½ a cup of chocolate drops and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence above a saucepan of hot chocolate.

Step three: Turn off the heat and stir through the cream

A sauce pan of hot chocolate being sired with a pink spatula.

Pour into mugs to serve. I get 3 child-sized portions (160ml, two-thirds of a cup) or 2 adult portions (250ml, 1 metric cup) from this recipe so scale it up if you need to.

Hot chocolate being poured from a saucepan into a pink mug.

Save This Recipe!

I'll email this post to you, so you can easily come back to it later!

Top Tips

Here is how you can make this hot chocolate recipe perfectly every time!

Don't skip the cream, it really does make these hot chocolates super special, giving them a wonderful mouthfeel.
If you want to look for Te Iwa Matariki but aren't quite sure what to look for, I suggest givving Professor Rangi Matamua and his Living By The Stars Channel.

Other Matariki Treats

This hot chocolate recipe is not particularly healthy, but my blog is about so much more than healthy food, it's about kids building great relationships with food, and special hot chocolates definitely build the most amazing food memories.

Matariki is all about coming together with friends and whānau to enjoy kai and reflect on the year thats been and the year to come.

Matariki Sweet Kūmara Pie: A delicious sweet potato pie decorated with stars
Star shaped hot chocolate toppers are the perfect addition to make this hot chocolate even more special.
Galaxy Cookies: A fun and easy way to decorate cookies
Bacon and Egg Pie: This is the perfect family pie, decorated with stars its perfect for an evening of star gazing.

A pink mug of hot chocolate topped with mini marshmallows. — If you want to up the specialness factor even more, add mini marshmallows (note, I know this is alot, but sometimes I create things for photos and not what I would actually serve)

If you made my Special Hot Chocolates or any other recipes on the blog please :

leave me a comment and a star rating below to let me know how you got on, I love hearing from you.
FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST to see more kid-friendly food and what I’m getting up to.