You Should Be Drinking Hot Chocolate With A Festive Rim

Nothing says "holiday season" quite like a rich, decadent mug of hot chocolate. Whether you're curling up by a fire or watching your favorite seasonal movie, sweet, steaming cocoa is the perfect companion. In recent years, hot chocolate bombs have become a popular option for dressing up this beloved drink. Another way to take your drinkable chocolate to the next level and really impress family and friends — or just make an extra-excellent treat for yourself — is adding a festive rim to your hot chocolate mug.

The process of adding a decorative rim to cocoa is similar to giving a sugar rim to alcoholic drinks. It's easy to do, and there's lots of room for creativity. You'll first need to wet the rim of your hot chocolate mug with some liquid for your toppings to adhere to. Caramel sauce, peppermint syrup, melted chocolate, chocolate syrup, pastry frosting, and marshmallow cream are all great options. You can also make your own simple syrup and use that. Meringue or melted marshmallow can also make for sumptuous options, and you can toast them with a culinary torch for added flair.

Once you've dipped the rim of your cocoa mug into the sticking agent of your choice, it's time to top. Dip your wet rim in toppings like crushed cookies, crumbled gingerbread, candy sprinkles, sanding sugar, graham cracker crumbs, or crushed candy cane. You can also dust with cinnamon or extra cocoa powder. If you have kids in the house (or you're just a kid at heart), crushing a favorite sugary cereal is a fun option for rim dipping. 

If you want to create a decorative rim that's on the lighter side to match, you can use something like maple syrup, honey, agave, or fruit juice as your rim liquid. For the topping, you can take a wassail approach and dip your rim into a seasonal spice mixture of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. If you're gluten-free, crushing up some gluten-free cookies or crispy coconut rolls is a great option, or dip your rim in toasted coconut or coconut sugar. You can also toss some freeze-dried fruit into a food processor for a flavorful and colorful topping.