WFMW: Making My Own Hot Chocolate

Okay, so I know everyone has their own way of dealing with hot chocolate. There’s the packets in the grocery store. You can make your own mix with powdered milk and just add hot water. For years, this is what we did, until we discovered, Penzey’s Hot Chocolate Mix. But then, we ran out last winter and I didn’t get around to ordering some more before the cold spells hit. So, I hunted around and found a recipe in Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys that really worked for me . . . except her proportions were small and it has to be mixed every time you want to use it.

Seriously, I have better things to do with my time, so I figured out, first how to tweak her proportions so I could make a batch ever few weeks or so, and also how I could make it more like the kinds of things that I love. So what I came up with is this:

Bensdorp Dutch Process Cocoa from King Arthur Flour
Granulated sugar of choice (Publix house brand works for me)

This is the base. I use a three cup Gladware container with a screw on top for storage.

I measure in equal amounts of cocoa powder and sugar. In this case, 1 cup and 1 cup, but you can do as much or as little as you want and use as big of a container as you want, too.

You can stop here, put the lid on and shake it up until thoroughly mixed and you’ll have a wonderful hot chocolate mix.

Or you can add something. Quinn suggests cinnamon, which I admit is wonderful. We use Penzey’s Ceylon Cinnamon. But you can also add cayenne pepper or cardamom or nutmeg or all-space or ginger. Really, any combination that you love in chocolate will likely work in hot chocolate. I make a much smaller container with my experiments. She suggests a pinch in her little proportions, but I’ve found that for large batches significantly more is necessary. However, that’s a trial and error thing. I think I’m using about 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon and a 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper.

When you want a cup of hot chocolate, all you have to do is put milk in a mug. Heat it up in the microwave, and then stir in a spoonful or so of the mix (clearly the more you add, the more chocolaty the hot chocolate), add marshmallows, whipping cream, or a biscotti and you’re ready for a wonderful, wonderful snack.

And that’s what works for me. Now, check out some more works for me tips at Kristen’s.