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Christmas Project #3

Christmas Project #3 is one of my favorites- Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix. It's a sweet and easy gift for friends and neighbors, and it's great to have on hand for Christmas company. Once you make this, you'll never go back to Swiss Miss. Actually, that's not true. I still use Swiss Miss sometimes. But this is like the difference between Blue Box Macaroni and yummy homemade baked mac and cheese. Given the choice, you would surely go homemade.

Here's what you need:


25.6 oz. of dry milk
1 lb powder sugar
16 oz. plain non-dairy coffee creamer
16 oz. Nesquik

In the picture, I have enough ingredients to make double the recipe...I needed lots of Hot Cocoa. To give you an idea of how much this makes, I doubled the recipe and ended up with 6 pint jars  and 7 quart jars of dry mix.

The directions are simple; find a really big bowl (sometimes I use my stockpot), dump all of these dry ingredients together, and stir, stir, stir. Make sure it's mixed together really well and you're done! Easy Peasy.

To use your mix, Add 5 tablespoons of Hot Cocoa Mixture to 8 oz. of hot water.

Now let's make this into a cute gift...this is the fun part! I decant my Cocoa Mix into pint and quart mason jars. Then, get out all of your ribbon scraps and papers and pens and stamps...or whatever you have.

I'm happiest when my dining table looks like this:


I used a 1.5 inch circle punch to make my gift tags. I stamped them with a Christmas tree stamp that I got a few years ago from the Michael's $1 bin. Obviously my stamp pad is dried up...just roll with it. We'll make do.


I used a regular hole punch in the top for the ribbon. To jazz up the stamp a bit, I went over the tree with a green marker and hit the stars with a little yellow dot. It made it a little cheerier.

 

I cut squares of some red fabric with pinking shears on the lid and tied the tags on with green ribbon. I wrote a greeting on the front of the tags and on the back, are the instructions to make a cup of cocoa.


This is a great gift to have on hand to pass out to friends and neighbors. It will warm their hands and their heart. I've been snuggling up with a quilt and a mug every night.

Today, I'm going to try my hand at Barefoot Contessa's Homemade Marshmallows!
Wish me luck.
Melissa

Sharing this idea with friends at:
Tatertots and Jello
A Little Lovely
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Tip Junkie

20 comments:

  1. what are the directions for making a cup?

    You said you have that printed on the back...? I am thinking homemade gifts this year!

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  2. The directions for making a cup are listed right after the recipe in the post, but it's "add 5 tablespoons of cocoa mix to 8oz of hot water" People will love you forever if you give these as Christmas gifts! :)

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  3. This will be perfect, thank you for the recipe! Can you make chocolate milk with this recipe?

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  4. Great gift idea! Very cute!

    Hope you can stop by on Thursday for my Holly Bloggy Christmas Recipe party!

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  5. cute idea!! this has been on my list of things to do!! please come link up to handmade tuesdays @ ladybug blessings tomorrow! www.ladybug-blessings.com

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  6. Those are darling and such a fun and quick gift idea!!

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  7. I used to make this years ago but add a jar of instant coffee to make Mocha Coffee. I don't remember the exact proportions, but I am sure you can find it on the internet if someone wanted to alter this recipe. Your jars look so adorable. You did a great job.

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  8. This is such a great gift idea! I was thinking about sending cookies to my boys teachers this year, but I think this would go great in the peanut butter jars I have been saving:)

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  9. I love this! Saving it for next year!!
    Thanks, Stef

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  10. Um, are we the same person? I've been absent from blog-land, but I definitely made a gumdrop wreath this year, AND this is my exact cocoa mix recipe, except I have a secret--I can make this sugar-free (and I really really think it tastes better). Let me know if you'd like to try that :)

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  11. Melissa - the hot cocoa turned out great! Thank you so much for sharing and the sweet email you sent. Check out my version here:
    http://catchupwithkate.blogspot.com/2010/12/oh-joy.html

    Always, Kate

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  12. Thank you for the wonderful idea! We made a double batch today and was able to make 9 full quart size jars filled to the rim. We also banged the jar on the table to allow the powder to settle. Very cute and simple gift for my 6 year old to do by himself. We also made gift tags using stamps. Thank you for the wonderful idea!

    Melissa in Cedar Park, TX

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  13. How many per cup does this make.

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  14. You can leave out the powdered sugar and this recipe is still plenty sweet enough with the sugar in the Nesquik

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