Peanut Butter Hot Cocoa for Kids

Hot cocoa is a favorite treat during the cold winter months, especially with kids. My children love hot cocoa, particularly our Homemade Hot Cocoa for Kids recipe, and we make it often this time of year.

This year, I decided to try a fun twist and created a recipe for Peanut Butter Hot Cocoa for kids.

Because peanut butter is so popular with kids (my children would happily eat peanut butter every day if I let them), I knew it would be the perfect addition to hot cocoa.

Besides, who can say “no” to chocolate and peanut butter? You might find yourself enjoying this Peanut Butter Hot Cocoa recipe just as much as the kids! (I won’t tell if you don’t!)

If your children don’t or can’t eat peanut butter, you can easily substitute almond butter or sunbutter.

Peanut Butter Hot Cocoa has no refined sugar either so you can feel good about serving this to your kids. If you’ve used those ready-made packets from the store for convenience’s sake, you should give homemade hot cocoa a try.

This recipe only takes about 5 minutes to make (10 minutes total if you make the homemade whipped cream) and it’s much better for your kids than the processed cocoa packets. Try it, you’ll be surprised at how simple it is!

On a side note, I’m excited to share this recipe because there’s dairy in it. While that might not sound very exciting, my kids haven’t been able to eat dairy for over a year because of food sensitivities. But they can finally eat dairy again so it’s very exciting to serve them something delicious like this!

Naturally, I look for a good brand brand I can trust, and that’s Horizon Organic.

I’ve shared a number of different activities and recipes involving Horizon foods for kids over the past few months and that’s because I really love and recommend this company. They have a passion for creating good food for kids using more organic ingredients with less artificial colors and flavors. You won’t find any corn syrup or dyes with Horizon food!

My kids love when I pack Horizon Organic cheese sticks with their school lunches and we can’t wait for local stores to begin selling Horizon Organic Eggnog!

For this Homemade Peanut Butter Hot Cocoa recipe, I use Horizon Organic DHA Omega-3 whole milk, and for the homemade whipped cream, we use Horizon Organic Heavy Cream.

Related: Check out this easy recipe for homemade hot cocoa mix. It’s healthy and kids love it!

Peanut Butter Hot Cocoa for Kids

Kids love this Peanut Butter Hot Cocoa recipe and you’ll love it too because it’s quick & easy to make. Plus with no refined sugar, you can feel great about serving this tasty treat to your family!

• Author: Erika Bragdon
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Total Time: 5 mins
• Yield: 2 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups milk
• 2 Tbsp baking cocoa, unsweetened
• 2–4 Tbsp honey (depending on how sweet you prefer)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter or almond butter (use sunbutter if you can’t do nuts)
• Homemade Whipped Cream (optional):
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2–3 tsp honey
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• additional peanut butter melted, optional

Instructions

1. Warm the milk in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the cocoa, honey, vanilla extract, and peanut butter. Whisk well as you continue to heat until desired temperature. Do not boil.
2. Note: if the cocoa is clumping and not dissolving well, you can blend the hot cocoa in a blender.
3. For the homemade whipped cream (optional but so good & recommended!), use a hand held mixer or stand mixer with a whisk attachment and beat the whipping cream on high for about 5 minutes. As the cream begins to thicken, slowly pour in the honey and vanilla extract. Whisk until preferred consistency. Spoon the whipped cream over your hot cocoa.
4. Optional: melt and drizzle a little peanut butter over the whipped cream.

Learn more about Horizon and get food and recipe inspiration for your kids by signing up for their newsletter and following on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Here’s a few more ways we’ve included Horizon:

• How to Make Brushing Your Teeth a Fun Habit for Your Kids (Free Printable Charts)
• Valentine’s Day Tic-Tac-Toe (Free Printable Game)
• 3 Simple Ways to Make Family Movie Night Rock (Free Printable Tickets)
• DIY Travel Coloring Kit for Kids (with Free Printable Coloring Sheets)
• Strawberry Banana Ice Cream in 3 Minutes
• Celery and Peanut Butter Snack with a Twist