Thursday, December 22, 2011

Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix

Arielle and I have been busy today. Doing THIS....


Why? Because we are going to fill these jars with Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix..... You can find the original recipe (more details), photos and directions at The Yummy Life Blog.  I plan to begin following this blog. I will go ahead and post the recipe as I've learned that links often disappear. Monica has other mixes too.


INGREDIENTS - makes 6 cups
  • 2 C powdered sugar
  • 1 C unsweetened cocoa (Dutch-process recommended)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 3 C non-fat dry milk powder
  • 1 C mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
  • Mix sugar and cocoa
  • Add salt, cornstarch, and cayenne
  • Add powdered milk 
  • Add chocolate chips
  • Store in air tight container
Monica suggests mixing it in a food processor. I don't have one. This worked well. 

Pour into jars


ONE MUG OF CHOCOLATE:  Fill 1/3 - 1/2 of mug with cocoa mix. Add hot water or milk and stir until mix is dissolved. 

POSSIBLE ADDITIONS: 
  • Dissolve a caramel or such in a mug. 
  • Add 1T to a cup of Chai Tea. 
  • Top with marshmallows or whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon, shaved chocolate, or crushed candy canes.
  • For a mocha drink, add a shot of espresso before the hot liquid. 
  • For spiced cocoa, add 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice to mug.
  • Spike with a T of peppermint/vanilla etc  flavorings
  • Add a cinnamon stick or candy cane.
Monica has several choices of printable tags and beautiful photos on her blog. Of course, it wasn't as easy as expected here in Northern Japan. I couldn't find cayenne pepper. I couldn't find Dutch-Processed cocoa. I couldn't find card stock or sticker paper. I ended up using origami paper to cover the lids and am hoping that the tags with a rubber band will work.  I can't face attaching them all with mod podge. LOL NO Christmas wrap or ribbon at the local stores.....and I'm not about to drive to the base on these icy roads. LOL

One thing about a home-made gift from ME - you ALWAYS know it's home-made and not purchased. LOL 

After all this, I'm short. I made 8 batches. I'll need to buy some more jars...don't think I can face more Mod Podge...have I said that already....we may go with naked jars. 

The proof is in the tasting and the kids tell me this is "Much better than Ghiradeli!"  Michael and I like this too. It's tastes like a glass of HOT COCOA made on the stove with milk. Yummmy. I'm happy; controlling the ingredients is a bonus. Even Zander can have this. We had switched to Ahlaska or Ghiradeli due to ingredients for him.  I'm going to have to be careful as drinking too much caffeine will give me a migraine - which is why I use Rooibos Chai these days. I found it fairly easy to resist the Ghiradeli and Ahlaska.  


If you're local, yes, you may well be getting a jar...and if you aren't local....here's a little virtual gift. Make yourself a batch, have a cuppa on me.

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

4 comments:

Stephanie said...

Those are so cute! Good job! I love homemade gifts...they are so much more heartfelt and filled with love!

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

You're an encourager Stephanie. They ARE heartfelt and filled with love though - and they WILL know they were homemade. LOL

Anonymous said...

Sis: sounds delicious to me except for the cayenne. the chai in it is what I'll try. anything with extra chocolate is my idea of GOOD! l/p Mom T.

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

We didn't add the cayenne and it was just fine! LOL