Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate

You’d think I’d be sick of pumpkin after doing a whole week of pumpkin recipes last month, wouldn’t you? NOPE. Not even a little. I’ll keep right on loving pumpkin until I wake up on Black Friday morning. That’s when I officially put away the pumpkin for a while, and switch my love over to peppermint and eggnog (gosh, I do love the flavors of Christmas).

When I posted my bevy of pumpkin recipes back in September, it was still pretty toasty and, well, summer-like around here. But now? We’re full-bore into Fall. Leaves are tumbling. The temps have dipped. I’ve pulled out my boot socks. All is right in the autumnal world. Now that we’re experiencing a little more normal Fall weather, I’ve made the transition from cold drinks to warm, toasty, belly-warming sips.

This pumpkin white hot chocolate is dan.ger.ous. And that’s saying a lot coming from someone who isn’t typically the biggest of white chocolate fans (super dark chocolate is normally my homegirl). But there is something about the way white chocolate pairs with pumpkin that makes it such a delicious and decadent combo (like in these Pumpkin Spice Cake Balls).

If it’s nice and chilly in your area, this hot chocolate would be such a wonderful treat after you get home from pumpkin or apple picking. It doesn’t take long to prepare, and it uses “normal” supermarket ingredients. In the baking aisle, you can find white chocolate baker’s chocolate, and that’s what I recommend you use for this drink.

My favorite white chocolate baking bar is Ghirardelli. There are times in the kitchen where it isn’t worth the extra money to get name brand or gourmet brand ingredients—chocolate is NOT one of those times. The extra couple of dollars you’d spend to get good quality chocolate is totally worth it, in my opinion. And Ghirardelli is my favorite of the grocery store brands. It’s hard to beat. This isn’t sponsored. I just really love me some good chocolate.

If you’re feeling really nice and deserving of a treat, you could top this hot chocolate with a big ole dollop of whipped cream. Go ahead, you deserve it. I would have, except I was straight out of whipping cream, and the nearest grocery store is a light year or two away from me.

ALTHOUGH: a new tiny deli just opened up in our town, and it sells a handful of groceries, so maybe they have whipping cream, and all my hot chocolate adorning problems are solved. We also got a brand new restaurant a few months back. It has actual tables and everything.  Can you tell we’re moving up in the world? We might just get that Whole Foods, yet. (LOL. NEVER.)

Before I hand over the recipe for this deliciousness, I wanted to mention the mugs that this hot chocolate is in, because every time I post a picture of them, I get lots of questions!

We got these mugs as a wedding gift almost a decade ago. They definitely aren’t our everyday mugs—they are fancy and, honestly, don’t hold nearly the amount of coffee that is required to chase after a toddler. But we do LOVE pulling them out for special occasions (like Wassail at Christmas!). We always get a ton of compliments on them, and I love that you can see the beautiful drink inside! You’d think they’d be super fragile, but we’ve never broken a single mug (*knock on wood*), and they’ve moved with us multiple times. They don’t make the exact style we own anymore, but the brand still does make the double wall, insulated, glass mugs in different sizes and shapes. Anywho, onto the recipe! Enjoy.