So you may have seen my Frugal Christmas post sharing how we pulled off gifts for all of our extended family members for under $60. If you haven’t yet seen it and you want some inspiration, check it out here. It’s loaded with photos of what we were able to pull off on a tight budget. And I’ll say I’m still quite proud of it.
One of the gifts I made for each family was a Hot Cocoa Mix. I love hot chocolate myself and I love giving gifts I love, so this was the perfect gift for me. Both to give and to make. Can you say “taste tester?” Ha!
Hot Cocoa Mix is just one of those wonderful things that all households in the Midwest should have on hand. It warms you from the inside out. Ever catch yourself sipping slowly just so you can warm your hands? There’s just something about a hot mug in the hand that brings comfort and light all season.
To make our Hot Cocoa Mix I first ventured to Dollar Tree in search of containers. And I found the perfect ones. Just look how cute! And they are really glass! For just $1 each it was a great deal to start off on the project.
Then I grabbed the required ingredients for the mix: powdered milk, powdered sugar, cocoa, and creamer.
We don’t have a commercial size bowl so I mixed everything in the crock pot. I used the whole box of powdered milk, the whole box of powdered sugar, 1 cup of cocoa and half the container of creamer to make 5 big jars full of cocoa mix. When my giftees are ready to make a cup, they simply mix a few spoonfuls with hot water or milk.
Here’s a more detailed recipe so you can divide or multiply for a different sized batch:
Ingredients:
- 10 cups powdered milk
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 3/4 cups Cocoa Powder
- 1 3/4 powdered coffee creamer (you can use flavored or plain)
Directions:
- Mix all ingredients in large mixing bowl.
- Divide into storage container/s. Makes about 15 cups of mix.
- For one serving, put a few spoon fulls of mix into hot water or hot milk and stir. Serve warm.
After I divvied out the mix into each container, I used some twine and tied on these cute little tags.
You can either save and print the images above or you can download and print this pdf. It’s free! And it prints at exactly the same size I used. Just print on Card Stock
