During the cold holiday months, I keep stock of hot cocoa mix. Year after year, my cabinets are filled with the premade boxes for hot chocolate.  My kids run through them like air. I mean, easy enough, right? Buy a box of packets, kids can microwave their drinks. Yeah, easy peasy. But what is even easier and more economical is making a huge batch of your own mix. Besides, everything tastes better when it is made by you!  

So there I was in the grocery store about to toss 4 boxes of hot cocoa mix in the basket when I remembered, heck, I have sugar, I have chocolate, I have cocoa. Literally, I had some kind of mommy-culinary-I-am-going-to-save-money epiphany. I put the boxed packets back on the shelf and put in a box of dry milk instead.

When I got home, it took all of a couple minutes to mix up enough hot cocoa mix to last us two weeks...and that is with 4 kids! I used a variation of a recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker. Seriously, it gets no easier and I like to think I saved a few bucks in the long run. I mean dude, a lil bit of unsweetened coco goes a long way!


You will need:

3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1½ cups cocoa powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1½ cups chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate bars...the kids loved that)

I mixed the dry ingredients in a bowl and placed in an airtight container (mason jars, here). I keep the mini chocolate bars in the pantry so that when I am ready to make the cocoa, I give a bar or two to the kids and let it melt and stir in their cocoa.  When you are ready to make it, just add some hot water, add in and stir your chocolate and yum!!

For the s'mores hot cocoa, I made the hot cocoa, topped the oven safe cups with a heap of marshmallows, then placed in the oven with it on broil until they browned. I topped with crushed graham crackers, a graham cracker and chocolate bar with a little of chocolate syrup drizzle. Yes, please.