Ina Garten's Brilliant Hot Chocolate Upgrade Delivers A Better-Tasting Mug Every Time

When the weather turns cold and hot chocolate season approaches, there are worse culinary role models to follow than Ina Garten. This is a woman whose standard brownie recipe requires a full pound of butter, who makes her bread pudding out of stale croissants, and whose mac and cheese features truffle butter and more than a pound of cheese. Her heart pumps heavy cream. Bluebirds bring her macarons every morning when she wakes. And her solution to the thousand cups of thin, watery, disappointing hot cocoa we've all had to suffer through in our lifetimes is a hot chocolate made with actual chocolate and an array of flavorful ingredients.

The Barefoot Contessa's version abandons the very notion of using cocoa powder in favor of a blend of chopped whole chocolate bars. She goes for a 50/50 split of milk and bittersweet, melting the chopped chocolate directly into whole milk and adding half-and-half to make it even richer.

It is a ridiculously delicious and indulgent way to make a cup of hot chocolate, perfect for a holiday party or a cold winter's day on the couch with some warm socks and a good book. But as a bonus, it also allows you to kink that cup in whatever direction you like.

Anyone can take a cup of hot chocolate and add a dash of vanilla extract or throw a handful of mini-marshmallows on top. But if you really want to get in there and tinker the first place you can start is with the actual chocolate you choose.

Garten's version of thick European-style hot chocolate suggests using Lindt, Valrhona, or Belgian Callebaut chocolate in an even proportion of milk and bittersweet. It works great and provides a decent balance. But if you're looking to make your cocoa even creamier, you could go for something like Meiji Hi-Milk with an even higher milk content that melts super-easily. Alternately, if you want to cut the sweetness a little, go with a dark chocolate – we ranked Choceur as the best store-bought option in our taste test.

And really, that's just the start. Garten's original recipe calls for adding a teaspoon of espresso or coffee powder to the mix and, honestly, that's brilliant. It does virtually nothing to affect the chocolate flavor, but adds depth by offsetting some of the overpowering sweetness. Other options include a sprinkle of cane sugar (if two different kinds of chocolate just aren't sweet enough for you), cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper for some spice, and a nod to the flavors of Mexican chocolate caliente, sprinkles (because they're fun), or crushed peppermint candies for a holiday twist. And sure, when you're done, add those marshmallows, too. Because who doesn't love hot chocolate with marshmallows?