Chilly Days & Steamy Mugs o' Hot Cocoa

Man, it’s chilly outside! With highs only in the mid-50’s, I think it’s safe to call it cold! Here in the South, it’s nearly normal to still be wearing shorts on Thanksgiving. And Christmas? Yea, it’s still not uncommon for it to not have reached freezing temps at night. (I do miss the snow in the winter, but man! I love living in the South! J )

However, this year, Mother Nature saw fit to cut short our fall and bring winter early. I don’t know about your families but around here, the chillier it gets the more hot chocolate gets consumed. J If we need some 5 minutes ago, I go with the quick milk and chocolate syrup. If we are relaxing and watching movies or just spending quality time together, the milk goes in a pot on the stove with cocoa powder, sugar and cinnamon – the way my mom used to make it (well, I added the cinnamon part). J  But seeings how my kids always have mom make their hot chocolate and they never get the stuff from the box, the boxed stuff has become the holy grail to them….just like everything else from a box. Haha  Though I did recently let my 3 year old talk me into getting a box of Swiss Miss because it had a snowman on it. (YOU try saying ‘no’ to that face. You won’t win. Period.)

With that in our cupboard, and then quickly out of our cupboard, two things came to me: Number 1-we go through these packets too fast and it will get expensive quick if this becomes a habit. And B-what goes in to those packets? What makes those hot chocolate packets (yes the ones with the marshmallows) so darn irresistible?!?

So as a mom, baking- and cooking- enthusiast, and do-it-yourselfer, I decided to make it myself. J Get on Pinterest and search for hot chocolate mix. Seriously. Those are a lot of different ways to get to the same end result! I felt a little overwhelmed, so I stuck to the basics. Ya ever heard the saying about how some of the best things are the simplest things? Boom.

The Harned Girls’ Hot Chocolate Mix

1 cup powdered milk

¾ cup powdered sugar

¾ cup cocoa powder

1/8 tsp salt

½ package of dry vanilla pudding mix

A mason jar

In a large mixing bowl, whisk it all together. Be careful not to do it too vigorously or you’ll be inhaling that hot chocolate.

Then in batches, run the mixture through a food processor. Pulse it for a minute or two, until all the big clumps are broken up and it looks really well combined. Spoon the smooth dry mix into the Mason jar.

Once it is all in the jar, feel free to give it a test run. For a mug of warm to hot milk, we used 2 tablespoons of the mix.

The girls and I thought it was quiet delicious. And then we topped it off with the teeny tiny marshmallows that you can shake into your cup. Mmmmm!

 

And just like that it will be gone. Promise. ;)

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* We'll do an update with a nicer prettier shot of the full Mason jar because it will be perfect to give out as gifts this holiday season! :) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*