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Family Kitchen
Homemade Gifts: Hot Chocolate
I crave hot chocolate in the winter. Creamy and warm, it’s the perfect drink to chase away the chilly wind of winter, and it makes a fantastic Christmas or holiday gift. The hot chocolate mix comes together quickly, is easy to package as a gift and even easier to prepare.
The most important part of this recipe is the cocoa. A good cocoa is going to make all the difference in the quality of your final product. I used Scharffen Berger’s Natural Cocoa Powder. Find one you love and trust before mixing it all up.
Then I added just a bit of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne to give my hot chocolate a bit of depth, but you could definitely nestle a vanilla bean sliced open in there for a vanilla-flavored variety.
Hot Chocolate Recipe adapted from Alton Brown
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
1 cup whole/2% milk
Sift together all dry ingredients. Store in airtight containers. I used pint-sized mason jars and topped with a circle of fabric and a raffia tie, but this could be packed into zip-top bags and then into cut paper bags or any other airtight container for gifting.
To make hot chocolate: Add 1/4 cup of mix to the bottom of a mug. Heat 1 cup of milk until hot but not boiling. Pour milk over cocoa mix while stirring or whisking.
Makes 4 cups powdered hot chocolate mix.
For more chocolate recipes, head over to GoodLife Eats and My Baking Addiction for the Holiday Recipe Exchange!
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10 Comments
[...] been cold. Negative degrees type of cold. Naturally, there has also been a healthy dose of hot chocolate to keep the chill at bay after sledding, making snow forts or just shoveling the two feet of snow [...]
Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Cream and Marshmallows | The Family Kitchen commented on Dec 14 10 at 2:26 amAmanda commented on Dec 10 10 at 6:41 amI cant wait to try this recipe… that bit of cayenne is amazing!!! Great job!
Nancy-The Sensitive Pantry commented on Dec 10 10 at 7:47 amI love this. Great idea for a college kid stocking stuffer!
Lori @ RecipeGirl commented on Dec 10 10 at 9:47 amI love this idea- and I love Nancy’s comment about about making it a stocking stuffer too!
Liz@HoosierHomemade commented on Dec 10 10 at 10:33 amYum! We have had Hot Cocoa every night lately! It’s pretty cold and snowy here in Indiana!
~Liz
Michelle Malette commented on Dec 16 10 at 7:04 pmThis turned out great! I made it with my daycare kids as gifts for their parents. We’re also making up some more as holiday thank you’s for other people. Also going to try our hand at making marshmallows with my after school age kids and include a few home made marshmallows as well.
We made it exactly as called for, except for cayenne since I didn’t have any and we added a few chopped up pieces of milk chocolate. Delicious!!
Thanks for the recipe!!
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Jennifer commented on Nov 02 11 at 10:54 pmThis sounds yummy! All the hot chocolate recipes I have have powdered milk and barely taste like cocoa. I am gonna have to try this one!
Erin commented on Mar 05 12 at 12:06 pmI have been trying hot chocolate mix recipes from the Internet for a few months now, looking for the perfect one. This is it! Thanks for sharing!
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