Winter Weather Calls for Warm Drinks!

Lately, in Park City, the weather has been super weird. Last weekend it was snowing. Then it started to warm up again, and now there is a thunderstorm happening right outside my window! What a weird winter...

When winter comes along, what is on everyone's mind? Of course, there's Christmas, snow, skiing, snowboarding, sledding, warm pajamas, fires in the fireplace, but most of all, warm mugs of hot cocoa and apple cider. I know I always look forward to them. However, I'm sure most people know how to make hot cocoa and apple cider, so I'm not going to be writing about how to make those. I WILL be writing about two new warm drinks that I just tried for myself and turned out super yummy!

Warm Vanilla Milk

I remember someone telling me that she LOVED to drink warm vanilla milk and would bring it to school in the morning a lot in the winter. It sounded pretty weird and kind of gross when she first told me what she was drinking, but after she explained how much she loved it, I have always wanted to give it a try. I ended up completely forgetting about it until researching warm drinks for this blog. Ever since, I have been craving it and it was SO easy and SO good!


You will need:

1 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp sugar
a mug

To start, warm up the milk either in a mug in the microwave or on the stovetop. Either way works, but I used the microwave because it's much faster and easier. It took about two and a half minutes, in case you were wondering.

After you have warmed up the milk to your desired temperature, stir in the vanilla and sugar with a spoon.

Top it off with a pinch of cinnamon and you're already done! Easy right?



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Spiced Hot Cocoa

This hot cocoa recipe that I found sounded really interesting and worth trying, so I did! It's just like normal hot cocoa with a little bit extra. This one was also easy and yummy!


You will need:

1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp hot water
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp almond extract

This recipe is kind of in two parts: the cocoa mixture and the actual drink part. Make your cocoa mixture by combining the cocoa powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Now, I didn't have a 1/8 teaspoon (who does?), so I had to guess by filling half of the 1/4 teaspoon and it turned out that I added a little bit too much for my liking. I would just add about a pinch of nutmeg instead. Anyways, mix the ingredients together after you have added them all.

The recipe also asks for a tablespoon of boiling water, but who wants to boil an entire pot of water for only one tablespoon? Not me, that's for sure. Instead, I used the hot water from the sink, which worked fine. I actually think cold water would have worked as well. Pour that water into the cocoa mixture and stir it until it is smooth.

Heat your milk up, again, either by microwave (but don't heat it in the same mug) or the stovetop.

Pour it in with your chocolate. Stir everything together well and top it off with some whipped cream and chocolate sauce and you're done! We didn't have chocolate sauce. Darn it! :(

I hope I inspired you to make a new drink on your next cold winter's day! Enjoy!