When the heat bill burns a hole in your wallet, opt for a cheaper, tastier alternative: a piping hot cup 'o cocoa. Nothing quite warms you up and settles the nerves like hot cocoa, and believe you me, 'tis the season for anxiety. Before you embark on a days worth of shopping, wrapping, baking or other holiday chores, whip up one of these blissful bevies and go loco for cocoa instead.

Unlike other seasonal sips hot cocoa has a little bit of something for everyone. Whether you like it rich and velvety, bittersweet, thick and creamy or light and whipped, somewhere there is a cup of hot cocoa with your name written all over it. Today we kick off Cocoa Day with a recipe that fall on the lighter side of the cocoa spectrum and is thought to be one of the best cocoa recipes out there. Don't take our word for it, try this recipe for Whipped Hot Chocolate from Sydney's Kitchen yourself and tell us what you think of this airy, drinkable confection.

For those with a sweeter side, sink your teeth into this recipe from Fat Toad Farm. This Caramel Hot Chocolate recipe is an all-star concoction of the wintry drinks we wait all year long to sip by the fire while snacking on a cookie or two. Whether you decided to drizzle or drench your hot cocoa is entirely up to you.

What's a cup of cocoa without a handful of tossed in for an extra bit of gooey sweetness. This next recipe from Thyme in Our Kitchen has the whole kit and kaboodle—hot cocoa made from scratch and Homemade Marshmallows made for the sole purpose of bobbing around your drinking mug. It just doesn't get much better than this!

As a little girl, and even now, my favorite part of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the edible dishes. A Taste of Koko brings childhood fantasies to life and transforms them into adult indulgences in this step-by-step tutorial for Chocolate Cups. Serve one of the above cocoa recipes in one of these delicious dishes, but you and your guests better drink up because these cups are bound to melt in to not-so-tasty mess.