Hot Chocolate This Way And That Way
There are dozens of different ways to make hot chocolate, but if your way includes the box of pre-packaged "cocoa," STOP IT.
Here's why.
I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy, but "corn syrup solids" sounds like the sort of thing I prefer not to consume. And don't get my started on the "dairy product solids" and the vegetable oil because I'm trying not to think about them.
Yeah, I know. I'm turning into a hippy or something. It's not really a new revelation, which I can prove because that box of crap hot chocolate mix?
Yes. So. That. Always check the expiration date on processed food before eating it in my house. Heh.
Anyway, there's really no good reason to buy the crap hot chocolate because it's super easy to make without the corn syrup solids and such. And, no, I'm not going to tell you to whip out a double boiler and a candy bar and ask that you figure out the exact right temperature to make that whole thing work out. That's too much work for me. Instead, I present to you a few EASY ways to make hot cocoa, one of which might be confused for "healthy." Sort of. At least you will be able to read all of the ingredients.
First up, the not-exactly-healthy-but-OH-MY-WORD-SOOOOO-GOOD hot chocolate.
Nutella Hot Chocolate.
Yeah, you heard me. Nutella Hot Chocolate.
This one is ridiculously easy. You heat up some milk (in the microwave is fine) and you stir in a few spoonfuls of Nutella.
That's it.
I promise the Nutella will melt just so long as your milk is warm enough. You can always throw it back in the microwave if you need to.
Regardless, THAT is my favorite way to make hot cocoa. By a mile.
My second favorite way is to make my own dry mix. You can scale this recipe to make as much or as little as you would like and you can adjust it according to your own tastes. Want less sugar? Go for it! Want super-chocolatey hot chocolate? Do it! Want to stick to only ingredients you can pronounce? You can do that!
It's a 3-4 ingredient list to make your own hot chocolate mix.
You start with dry milk.
You add some powdered sugar.
Add a little bit of unsweetened cocoa.
And then comes the step where you can get all wild and crazy.
The fourth ingredient is optional as its purpose is to make the hot chocolate a little creamier. If you don't care about that and would rather stick to a "pure" recipe, by all means, skip it! (If you skip it, your ingredients list for hot chocolate will be: milk, cocoa, and sugar. Perhaps not the healthiest list since sugar is never a good thing, but the ingredients are certainly far less processed than what you buy in the Nestle box).
If you want to go with a version that is close to what comes in that box that expired four years ago, go with plain old non-dairy creamer as your fourth ingredient. Or! Or! You can get wild and crazy and use a flavored non-dairy creamer. I had Vanilla Caramel on hand the last time I made hot chocolate mix.
Once you have your three or four ingredients in the bowl, just mix it all up.
Tah-dah! Your own hot chocolate mix!
You can get fancy and make some to package up for gifts, or just make it for yourself. I personally make a fairly small batch (exact measurements are below) and put any extra in a storage bag for future use.
It tastes *so* much better than store bought hot chocolate. And the best part is that you can alter it a bit so that it is exactly what you want it to be.
Oh, and if you want to get REALLY brave, try making it into a Mayan Hot Chocolate. Use your regular mix (no funky flavored non-dairy creamer) and add a bit of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper.
It sounds crazy, but when it's all mixed up, it's AMAZING.
You won't even need whip cream or marshmallows for the Mayan Hot Chocolate. It stands alone just fine.
So, the recipes:
Nutella Hot Chocolate
1 cup milk
2-3 spoonfuls of Nutella
Heat the milk in a microwave-safe mug. (In my microwave, it takes two minutes for the milk to be hot enough to melt the Nutella.) Gently stir in the Nutella until melted. Enjoy!
Hot Chocolate Mix (makes approximately 4 servings)
1 cup dry milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
3 tablespoons non-dairy creamer (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until well-blended.
To make the hot chocolate, heat one cup of water. And 1/2 cup of hot cocoa mix. Stir until well blended. (Obviously, you can adjust the amount of hot cocoa mix you use according to how you like your hot cocoa. This is the ratio that works for us.)
Mayan Hot Chocolate
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup Hot Cocoa Mix
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of cayenne pepper
Just mix it all together and enjoy!
Recipe
Reader Comments (17)
It is funny how easy (and inexpensive) making somethings can be. I discovered making my own cocoa out of necessity (post snow play/no swiss miss!). However I just mixed it into milk, rather than including the dry milk but that is a good idea! I doubt I will ever buy the pouches again.
Homemade hot cocoa is the best, and your nutella version sounds out of this world. For everyday stuff, I usually just mix unsweetened cocoa powder and sugar together, maybe with a little of my favorite extract, and add a tiny bit of milk or half-and-half to make a paste. Then I pour hot milk over the top and - yum. I have to admit that I've always avoided powdered coffee creamers because my brain automatically binned them in the 'processed crap' category, so I was surprised to see it here. Are the ingredients not that bad after all?
I find it ironic that in attempting to avoid "dairy solids" and vegetable oil you're using a flavored non-dairy creamer containing partially hydrogenated soy and cottonseed oils and "artificial sodium caseinate (milk derivative)." Nutella in hot milk (palm oil notwithstanding) sounds lovely, though!
Mmmm hot chocolate. Have you ever tried making it the old fashioned way with dutch process cocoa? It's a little bit of work but oh man is it heavenly. You just boil the cocoa in water (clearly) for a while and cook it until it thickens up, then add milk, and heat through. What's also nice is that I can add the sugar at the end, so that I can make mine with sugar, and the diabetic's with fake sugar, thus introducing him into the world of hot cocoa denied to him since he was 5. It's awesome.
I'm totally trying the nutella trick, though. Is there anything nutella can't do? Nom nom nom.
Aaand I just took a sip of my hot tea expecting it to be hot cocoa. I love tea but that was a bit of a let down.
@MAL--No, it's bad. Making it yourself reduces the quantity of bad stuff, but it's still there.
@Sarah--I leave out the non-dairy creamer 99.9% of the time. I only had some on hand because we had family visit a few months ago and they purchased it. :-)
Homemade hot chocolate is so much better but I rarely make it anymore. I used to do the whole boil it on the stove thing and it really wasn't that much more work (totally worth it.) But, when we "upgraded" our pots and pans I sent my vintage pans with the square top edge over to my sisters and now I can't pour out of the normal pan without making a mess. I might have to try making my own dry mix though, that could totally work.
I have cookies that taste EXACTLY like the mayan hot chocolate. In fact, they're even called Mayan Hotties. For realsies.
I am going to make some nutella chocolate right now. Thanks for the idea!
My family did a pick names type gift exchange this year for the first time, but since I am crazy and can't imagine not giving everyone something, Emily & I made hot chocolate mix for everyone. We used the same basic recipe you do, then packaged them up super cute in cellophane bags, and put them in Christmas chinese takeout boxes with a cellophane bag of marshmallows. Then we printed cute instructions & tied them on with some candy canes. They turned out adorable & everyone loved them.
cinnamon!! yum! (i know i am going to fuck up and dump too much cayenne pepper in so when i call you crying, you'll know why.)
I discovered Nutella hot chocolate in a moment of desparation one day. Ticked that I couldn't scrape every last morsel of goodness out of the Nutella jar, I nuked some milk, poured it in the Nutella jar and shook until the jar was clean. I may or may not have drank it directly from the Nutella jar. :)
^That's a good way to clean out the jar for recycling too!
Blast from the past! I grew up with the same dry hot cocoa mix. And when my kids were little we made it for them as well! but you are right, Nutella in milk is the bomb!
I have cookies that taste EXACTLY like the mayan hot chocolate. cheap columbia jackets.
I want this now! This cup really tasty! My girlfriend makes it every day!essay writing service
OK, it just went back up to 78 here ... we need another cold spell in FL to enjoy this!
I bought "all" the ingredients to make this last year...and have failed to actually do so as of yet. I suck. But, anywho...we must make this soon!
Tangentially, I don't understand blog comment spam with links...don't they understand "nofollow"? Seriously.