This is a really simple recipe for Starbucks Hot Chocolate, which is easily their tastiest drink but is really hard to find a recipe for!

Step 1: Ingredients

First you need to gather your ingredients; these are all really easy to find in your local supermarket:

Cocoa Powder
Milk (I used semi-skimmed, whole milk works just as well),
Sugar,
Vanilla Extract,
Water,

Hazelnut Coffee Syrup (optional),
Caramel Coffee Syrup (optional),
Sea Salt (optional),
Whipped Cream (optional).

Step 2: Make the Chocolate Syrup

This recipe makes 2 servings, however I have halved all the values and made it just for myself and it tasted just the same. You will need to:

1. Measure out 1/4 cup water or 4 tablespoons
2. Measure out 2 tablespoons of cocoa
3. Measure out 2 tablespoons of sugar
4. Depending on how you want to heat this up, choose the next step accordingly
5. a) Pour sugar, then cocoa and then water into a large mug or measuring jug and mix well, until they make what looks like a brown liquid. Then place this in the microwave and cook on high for 1-2 minutes.
b) Pour sugar, then cocoa and then water into a saucepan and heat gently while stirring until it appears that all the ingredients have mixed together; do not boil, a gentle steam will appear, this is normally when I take the mixture off. The mixture generally has the texture of a syrup.

Ready to move on?

Step 3: Adding Milk and Vanilla

Now it's time to add milk and vanilla extract!

1. Pour 1.5 cups (24 tbsp) of Milk into the saucepan.
2. Pour 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract into the mixture.
3. Place back on the heat and warm until the drink resembles Hot Chocolate
4. Take off the heat and serve immediately.

Note: Adding in milk and vanilla is a task better suited to using a saucepan; I haven't tried using a microwave.

Once this is done, your basic Hot Chocolate a la Starbucks is complete; check the Finishing Touches page for more ideas on what to do with it.

Step 4: Finishing Touches

Now you're done, you may want to add some extras:

Try adding in your favorite coffee syrups; I love adding in 1 teaspoon of Caramel syrup and 1 teaspoon of Hazelnut syrup into each drink. Topping with whipped cream and adding a pinch of sea salt makes this a direct copy of Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate and it sure tastes good! Chocolate shavings go down a storm in my house also, if only to make the drink look good!