How to Brew Up Some Frightfully Delicious Halloween Hot Cocoa

Trick or treat yo self to this spooktacular Halloween Hot Cocoa.

I don’t know about you, but during the fall, one of my favorite things to whip up is a warm cup of cocoa. Decadent and so warm and toasty, there’s nothing better than snuggling up under a cozy blanket with a cup of hot cocoa and throwing on one of your favorite Halloween or fall movies. But spooky season calls for a more fa-boo-lous cup of cocoa. That’s why I have brewed up a spooktacular hot cocoa recipe just for Halloween!

Sweet with the flavors of fall, this hot cocoa is not only frightfully delicious, but ORANGE, too! Yup, I said it—this hot cocoa is orange! Throw in some whipped cream (or a non-dairy alternative), some orange candy melt shavings, and some hauntingly cute Marshmallow Ghosts (I’ll talk more about those later!) and you have the best Halloween Hot Cocoa ever!

Read on below to learn how to make your own Halloween Hot Cocoa to enjoy during all of your spooky season movie marathons!

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• Milk of your choice (2 cups)
• Orange candy melts (1/3 cup)
• Cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon)
• Vanilla (just a splash, no more than 1/2 teaspoon)
• Whipped cream (optional)
• Marshmallows (optional, but are for making the Marshmallow Ghosts)
• Chocolate, or chocolate candy melts (optional, but are for making the Marshmallow Ghosts)
• Ziplock bag and scissors (optional, but for the Marshmallow Ghosts)

Here’s How to Make Your Halloween Hot Cocoa (with Marshmallow Ghosts!):

Start your Halloween Hot Cocoa by measuring out two cups of the milk of your choice (for my own recipe, I actually used almond milk!). Pour your two cups of milk into a small saucepan and set to medium heat. Next, measure out 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, put it in with the milk, and stir well; this will mix into the milk as it warms. If you don’t want the small specks of cinnamon in your hot cocoa, you can always add in a cinnamon stick to infuse the milk with the flavor and remove the cinnamon stick before serving. After adding your cinnamon, add a splash of vanilla into your milk and stir. The cinnamon and vanilla give it a decadent fall flavor that will warm you through and make you feel oh-so-cozy.

As your milk starts to get warmer, add in 1/3 cup of orange candy melts. When the candy melts melt down with the milk, they will begin to turn the milk orange, making it perfectly spooktacular for Halloween. If you don’t have any candy melts on hand or are unable to get them, you can always melt down white chocolate into the melt and color it with orange food coloring.

Once the candy melts have completely melted, let your hot cocoa continue to warm until it reaches your desired temperature.

At the point, you can make some boo-tiful Marshmallow Ghosts to accompany your Halloween Hot Cocoa. I used the slightly bigger marshmallows for my ghosts, but you can, of course, use the small marshmallows for this! Line out your marshmallows, either on a plate or a piece or parchment paper, and warm up your chocolate. For this part, I used chocolate candy melts since the harden rather quickly. I warmed up about 1/3 cups of chocolate candy melts in a microwaveable bowl for approximately 45 seconds and stirred to make sure all of the chocolate disks had melted completely. Once they are melted, transfer the chocolate into a Ziplock bag and cut a small portion of the bottom corner off to make your plastic bag into a piping bag. Pipe two small lines towards the top of the marshmallows for the ghosts eyes and a bigger “O” shaped mouth below. Once all of the faces are piped, allow the marshmallows to rest until the chocolate has dried.

To build your Halloween Hot Cocoa, begin by pouring your orange brew into your favorite spooky season mug. I happened to have my “Hocus Pocus” one on hand. Once you have your cocoa poured, you can, of course, serve it as is—but to give it a little more Halloween flair, I added whipped cream on top (you can use a non-dairy option), sprinkled some orange candy melts pieces, and added some Marshmallow Ghosts!

Totally spooktacular, right?! This Halloween Hot Cocoa is bursting with fall flavor and so festive for Halloween.

Would you try out this Halloween Hot Cocoa? Let me know in the comments below!

As always, you can find the video tutorial for this Halloween Hot Cocoa recipe on my TikTok.

Cheers, witches! Have a fa-boo-lous Halloween!