HOT COCOA MIX

If you are one of my friends that I exchange gifts with, please close this page now!

Now that they're gone let me tell you that one of the gifts that my friends will be receiving for Christmas is this Hot Cocoa Mix.

If you were to enter my dining room right this minute you would see a festive forest of hot cocoa on my table. 

  

 

I found the most adorable tree jars at Walmart (2 bucks each).  I snapped up a whole whack of them to put my cocoa mix into and I think that they look very smart.  The jars come with a little red ribbon which is cute…

But this year I “feel like a natural woman” so I went with the brown burlap ribbon I got at Michael’s.  I wrote the instructions for making Hot Cocoa Mix into drinkable hot cocoa on a gift tag and tied it onto the ribbon.

This mix is really a hybrid of hot chocolate and hot cocoa.  I find pure hot chocolate very rich, and I find just cocoa a little one note…So I added chocolate to the cocoa!  In order to make this with only boiling water you could add a couple of cups of powdered non- dairy creamer to the mix; but if you read my post for Cinnamon Vanilla Coffee Creamer, you know how I feel about non-dairy creamers, so I prefer to have the recipients of this cocoa add it to heated milk.

So now you know what my friends are getting for Christmas this year; and I’m guessing that they know it too!  

Here are some other great Edible Gift Ideas: 
Chocolate Covered Caramel Popcorn 
Chocolate Covered Potato Chips 
Gourmet Caramel Apples

Here’s what you do.

 

Add the powdered milk to a large bowl…

 

…Along with the sugar.   

I put some sugar and a vanilla bean into a container and left it for a couple of days for vanilla scented sugar.  This adds a little something to the cocoa, but is not necessary. 

   

I have a friend who prefers Truvia sweetener, so I also dropped a vanilla bean into a container of Truvia.  I used the Truvia in hers to make it almost sugar free (don’t get me started on artificial sweeteners)…

 

…add the instant espresso and sea salt as well.  

The coffee flavor is not noticeable, it just enhances the chocolate.  

I used decaffeinated espresso, so that I won’t have any of my overstimulated friends cursing me if they can’t get to sleep. (If you want to make this mocha flavored; double the amount of instant espresso).

 

Sift the cocoa and cornstarch into the ingredients to get rid of any lumps.

Give it a whisk to incorporate the ingredients.

 

Add the mini chocolate chips and whisk it again to be sure that the chips are evenly distributed. 

It’s important that you use the mini chips, regular chocolate chips won’t melt, leaving a glob of chocolate in the bottom of the mug…and nobody wants a glob of anything in the bottom of their mug.

Spoon the mix into attractive air tight containers.  A canning funnel helps to keep things neat.

 

Be sure to write the instructions on a card.

 

Tie it up with a ribbon on to your jar.

Makes about 10 cups of mix, or about 4 to 6 jars.

4              cups       Powdered milk

2              cups       Sugar (or 1 1/3 cups Truvia)

½             cup        Instant espresso coffee

½             tsp.        Sea salt

2 ½          cups       Cocoa (Hershey's Dark was used in this recipe)

2              tsp.        Cornstarch

1 ½          cups       Mini chocolate chips, semi-sweet

1.        Add the powdered milk, sugar (or Truvia), instant espresso and salt to a large bowl. 

2.       Sift the cocoa and cornstarch into that same bowl; stir with a whisk until the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

3.       Add the mini chocolate chips, stir with a whisk until the chips are evenly distributed.

4.       Spoon into attractive airtight containers; store in a cool, dry place.

*Note.  Make this a Mocha Mix by doubling the amount of Instant Espresso.

To make hot cocoa: add 1/3 cup of mix to 1 cup of hot milk; stir until the chocolate has melted, 30 to 45 seconds.