Julie Van Rosendaal shares recipes for easy chai, hot chocolate and zesty warm lemonade

With the temperature dropping, it's time to seek out warm beverages. And though we often default to hot chocolate, tea and hot cider, warm lemonade is a delicious alternative.

Instead of serving it chilled, warm it up — add a few slices of ginger and a cinnamon stick, and some orange slices or cranberries if you like.

There are many ways to make a cup of chai (it means "tea" in Hindi, so it's just "chai," not "chai tea"). It's a milky black tea often spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, fennel and star anise.

But one of the most common ways to make a cup is by steeping water, milk, green cardamom pods and Red Rose teabags — it's the method they use at the Ismaili Muslim Stampede Breakfast every July at the Calgary Ismaili Jamatkhana and Centre, and it's delicious.

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When I make it, I steep a ratio of one-to four milk to water, with a few crushed green cardamom pods (and sometimes a slice of fresh ginger) and a couple of black (orange pekoe or English breakfast) teabags, strain and add sugar to taste.

Warm Caesar

You could also make a warm, Caesar-like tomato drink with tomato juice or Caesar mix, spiked as you like it with Tabasco, Worcestershire, pickle brine, horseradish, celery seed, pepper and/or lime — with or without a shot of vodka.

French Press Broth

While most hot drinks tend to be sweet, there's no reason they can't be savoury. 

Make a quick broth to sip in your French press. Pour boiling water or hot stock over aromatics like green onion, cilantro, chilies, ginger, garlic and lemongrass. Let steep and plunge to strain out the solids. Or make a quick miso soup with miso paste, or dashi with kombu (seaweed) and bonito flakes.

Hot Chocolate

Of course, there's nothing wrong with hot chocolate, but it's easy to do better than the usual packaged mix.

Make your own to whisk into warmed milk by stirring together equal parts cocoa and sugar (or 2:1 cocoa to sugar if you'd like it less sweet). Use 3-4 tablespoons per cup of milk, along with a tiny pinch of salt. Add some chopped dark chocolate or a spoonful of peanut butter or Nutella if you'd like an even richer, creamier cup.

To bring it up another notch, heat two cups of homogenized (3.25 per cent) milk (or two per cent with some half-and-half or heavy cream) until steaming; stir in 4-8 oz. chopped dark chocolate and 1-2 tbsp. sugar, let sit for a minute or two, then whisk until smooth.

Salted Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup cocoa

¼ cup water

3 cups 2 per cent or whole milk

2-4 tbsp. creamy peanut butter

2-3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and cocoa to get rid of lumps; stir in the water until smooth, then whisk in the milk over medium-high heat.

Heat until steaming. Remove the pan from the heat and add the peanut butter and chocolate. Let it sit for a few seconds, then blend it with a hand-held immersion blender.

For individual cups, divide the chocolate among the cups and pour the warm milk overtop and blend with a small whisk or milk frother.

Serves 2.