Dreaming of a white Christmas may or may not have born fruit for you, but you can take some of those candy canes to garnish a cup of white hot chocolate.

Instead of cocoa powder, this recipe makes hot chocolate the original Swiss way: by melting chocolate bars.

You can use white chocolate bars or chips. If you have white baking chocolate (manufactured without sugar), you can use that and sweeten to taste.

And as you melt it, listen to “White Christmas” on YouTube:

> Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.”

> Bing Crosby & Frank Sinatra’s “White Christmas.”

> Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” Karaoke Version.

> Elvis Presley’s “White Christmas.”
 
 

 
 
> The history of hot chocolate.

>> The history of white chocolate is below.

> Our favorite gourmet white chocolate bars.

> The difference between hot chocolate and cocoa.

> The different types of chocolate: a photo glossary.

> The history of candy canes.

> More hot chocolate recipes.
 
 
RECIPE: WHITE HOT CHOCOLATE

Prep time is 5 minutes and cook time is 10 minutes.

Ingredients For 6 Small Cups Or 3-4 Mugs

 
Preparation

1. HEAT the milk in a large saucepan over medium heat until bubbles form around sides of pan. While the milk is heating…

2. BEAT the cream in a small bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold in 1 teaspoon of crushed candy cane.

3. WHISK the chocolate into the milk until smooth. Remove from heat; stir in the peppermint extract.

4. POUR into mugs and top with whipped cream. Sprinkle with the remaining crushed candy cane. If you are using the optional marshmallows, we like to put them atop the hot chocolate first, then top with whipped cream, then the crushed candy cane.

5. SERVE immediately.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF WHITE CHOCOLATE

White chocolate was created by Nestlé in Switzerland in 1936, the inventor of milk chocolate (see the history of chocolate).

The company developed it to use excess cocoa butter, a by-product of their chocolate manufacturing process.

White chocolate consists of cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids, and vanilla, but contains no cocoa solids (which are what gives chocolate its brown color). The first white chocolate bar for consumers, called Galak was released in Europe in 1937.

Nestlé still sells Galak (a made-up name*) in various European and South American countries. It is also sold in the U.K. and Australia but renamed as Milkybar.

Milk and dark chocolates have the same ingredients, plus cocoa solids. While milk chocolate contains milk solids as does white chocolate, dark chocolate contains no milk (and is vegan).

White chocolate was first introduced to the American market in the 1940s after World War II, though it didn’t gain widespread popularity until the 1980s when major U.S. chocolate manufacturers began producing it commercially and the population of artisan confectioners grew.

But technically, without any cocoa solids, was it really chocolate?

For decades after its introduction in the U.S., white chocolate was not classified as real chocolate because it lacks cocoa solids.

There was an ongoing controversy between chocolatiers and the government. Not to mention generations of consumers and industry professionals alike who felt that if the government said so, then that was so.

Finally, in 2024, the FDA established standards validating white chocolate as real chocolate if it contains:

 
So there is officially “real chocolate” in the U.S., but a lot of information online and elsewhere keeps bringing up the 20th century misinformation.

> Here’s more history of white chocolate.
 
 
Imitation White Chocolate a.k.a. Confectioner’s Coating a.k.a. Candy Melts

If you’ve had white chocolate and don’t like it, you may have actually eaten imitation white chocolate, a product that’s cheaper to produce.

It’s also called called confectioners’ coating, confectionery coating, candy coating, candy wafers, compound chocolate, and melts.

Imitation white chocolate is a product that contains sugar and milk, but instead of cocoa butter, it uses a cheaper fat like hydrogenated vegetable oil or palm kernel oil.

Note that cocoa butter is also a vegetable oil, but it comes from cocoa beans. White chocolate has no cocoa powder in it, which is why it tastes the way it does, and why it is white instead of brown like chocolate is.

Without cocoa butter, there’s nothing “chocolate” about it.

A well-respected brand like Lindt uses a blend of both.

Such products are often labeled as “white baking chips/morsels” or “white baking bar”—they can’t use the word “chocolate.”

Why don’t most people like the taste of imitation white chocolate?

 
For a true white chocolate experience, look for a bar that has only cocoa butter.

In addition to the cost savings, confectioners’ coating is easier to work with, and doesn’t require tempering.
 
 
Uses For Confectioners’ Coating a.k.a. Candy Melts

Easy-to-melt confectioners’ coating/candy melts are a versatile confectionery ingredient in chocolate-making, baking, and decorating.

They are available in a variety of colors and flavors, and leftover coating can be re-melted and used again, for:

 
Reminder: This is not an endorsement of coating/melts. We have not been keen on either the flavor and texture since our early days as an incipient foodie.

[1] White hot chocolate is made by melting a white chocolate bar in milk (photo and recipe © Taste Of Home).

[2] A whole peppermint stick looks more dramatic, but crushed pieces imbue the drink with more peppermint flavor (photo © Natalie Grainger | Unsplash).

[3] Guittard white chocolate chips are one of our favorites; the other is Valrhona (photo © Webstuarant Store).

[4] Instead of baking chips, you can also chop up a white chocolate bar. This is one of our everyday favorites, from Green & Black’s (photo Claire Freiermann | © The Nibble).

[5] Just put the candy cane(s) between sheets of wax paper and crush with a rolling pin or a wine bottle. If the canes are wrapped in plastic, leave it on while crushing (photo © Luciana Borges | Squarespace).

[6] When you buy mini-marshmallows, check out Dandies (photo 98, below). They’re vegan and kosher, but more importantly for us, they taste so much better than the big store brands (photo © Serafima Lazarenko | Unsplash).

[7] Homemade whipped cream tastes so much better than from-a-can, but if you don’t have the time, grab the aerosol (photo © King Arthur Baking).

[8] Confectioners coating is used by most confectioners (except fine chocolatiers) to coat pretzels and other snacks. Check the package label (photo © Merckens Chocolate Melts).

In the days before air conditioning, confectioners made “white chocolate” candies from confectioners’ coating because it didn’t melt like chocolate does.

Bonbons were made in “original” white confectioners’ coating, which was also tinted in pastel shades for a summery look—pale blue, green, pink, and yellow.

While the “colored chocolates”-in-the-window appealed attractive to my grade school self, even then I knew they didn’t taste anywhere near as good as the “regular” chocolate from chocolate shops my family patronized (which in those days meant Fanny Farmer, Schrafft’s and mom-and-pops like Bischoff’s, Hashagen’s, and Schwartz Candies).

So: If you think you don’t like white chocolate, try a quality bar.

And be sure to read the ingredients label when you purchase anything from white baking chips to chocolate bars to chocolate-covered pretzels.
 

[9] It’s easy to find Dandies vegan marshmallows online. They also make limited-edition Maple, Peppermint, and Pumpkin flavors for the holidays Here’s a store locator (photo © Dandies).
 
________________
 
*Trying to find an origin word for Galak, THE NIBBLE team searched for, among other things, the reverse spelling. “Kalag” is a word from the Bisayan language of The Philippines that means “ghost.” That name fits with a white-color candy, but what’s the chance that someone in Switzerland in 1937 knew Bisayan?

†The more finely the chocolate is chopped, the faster it will melt.