Hot chocolate floats are the perfect holiday drink

With the holiday season right around the corner, you’re guaranteed to make and drink many mugs of hot cocoa. That’s why it’s high time to upgrade your hot chocolate game.

Powder hot cocoa packets have cut it for many years. What they lack in flavor they make up for with speed and convenience. They earned a special place in our hearts and nostalgia but they don’t belong in our mugs anymore. Rich, creamy homemade hot chocolate does, and it’s easier to make than you’d think.

And to make your hot cocoa even more festive for the holidays? Add a big scoop of vanilla ice cream to make a hot chocolate float. The ice cream creates a frothy, foamy layer that lasts all the way to the bottom of the mug. Like this hot chocolate float from Delish:

The hot fudge alone is making us drool.

Curious what else is out there? The recipes below are rich, fudgy and full of chocolate flavor — plus they’re so easy you can try them all!

This recipe from Sugar Hero, for example, includes fudge sauce and ice cream over creamy, homemade hot chocolate. The beverage is, quite simply, mind-blowing.

MORE: Warm up your holiday gatherings with hot chocolate pudding shots

This recipe from Rachael Hartley Nutrition, meanwhile, ups the ante with gelato. But that’s not all. The decadent hot cocoa base is anything but basic. It includes cocoa powder, chocolate chips and maple syrup.

We also endorse trying other hot cocoa recipes and just adding in the à la mode afterward. This recipe from Fifteen Spatulas, for one, keeps things simple and delicious. It seems that the key to creamy homemade hot cocoa is melted chocolate.

And Smitten Kitchen’s recipe for a giftable homemade hot cocoa mix is almost too delicious to give away. It includes two kinds of chocolate, as well as a bit of vanilla bean to make it extra special.

We bet those powder packets are already a distant memory.