To Best Enjoy Iced Hot Chocolate, Add Cocoa Mix To Your Ice Cubes

Sometimes you're in the mood for hot chocolate but the weather isn't right for it or maybe you just don't feel like drinking something hot — this is where iced hot chocolate comes in. Iced hot chocolate has all of the chocolatey goodness that traditional hot chocolate has, but with ice added, making it a nice and refreshing cold drink instead. There are two options for making iced hot chocolate: You can stir a hot cocoa packet into the cold milk or make a hot version of hot cocoa (by heating 2 ounces of chopped chocolate and 1.5 cups of milk in a saucepan) and then pour it over ice.

Whichever way you choose to make the iced hot chocolate, there's one step you don't want to skip: Make ice cubes out of cocoa mix. Instead of using regular ice cubes and watering down the drink, you can make cocoa-infused ice cubes to ensure you can taste all the chocolatey richness in every sip. To do this, whisk together 1 cup of milk with a packet of hot cocoa. When it's thoroughly mixed, pour into an ice cube tray and pop in the freezer until the cubes are solid, which should take three to four hours. After those few hours are up, you can make your glass of iced hot chocolate and pop in a few cocoa cubes for an ice-cold sweet treat that won't water down.

After you've made your iced hot chocolate, complete with cocoa ice cubes, you can garnish it. Of course, you'll want to add a dollop of whipped cream at the very least, but feel free to add some sprinkles, chocolate shavings, or mini marshmallows as well. You can also add a drizzle of hot fudge sauce or salted caramel sauce over the whipped cream for some extra sweetness.

You can even add flavor to your iced hot chocolate while you're making it — for example, you can add a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg or make the iced version of Tasting Table's ginger hot chocolate. Or, you could take inspiration from our spiced Grand Marnier hot chocolate, which not only features the titular liqueur but also cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and chile pepper. You can also skip the spices altogether and make the iced hot chocolate boozy by adding the Grand Marnier or another type of alcohol, such as Bailey's or rum. However you choose to upgrade the iced hot chocolate, don't forget to add the cocoa-infused ice cubes — and remember to make them in advance.