Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

This stuff is sooo delicious- creamy, just chocolatey enough, not too sweet, and so easy to make!  It makes a great gift, too.  A friend pointed this recipe out to me, and I'm so happy about it.  I keep making half-batches; I need to just make the full batch next time!

I always have dry milk powder on hand for this pizza recipe.  I can only get a huge container of it here, and can't go through it fast enough.... before this recipe came along, anyway!  Make sure to use real white chocolate for this recipe.  I can buy 100 gram European bars of it here, which is the perfect amount for a half-recipe of this mix.  Real white chocolate chips can be hard to find, even Stateside, so if you are interested in an online source, I order mine from Nuts in Bulk.  These chips are very small.... a lot smaller than they look.  They're mini!  Being such a small size, they blend up super easily in the food processor, too.  (Below- mini white chocolate chips from Nuts in Bulk; regular-sized chocolate chips behind them).

I tried a variation of this where I used part white chocolate chips; part mint chocolate chips, and it didn't work out nearly as well.  The mint chips were harder and they didn't quite blend up all the way.  Mixing with hot milk didn't melt the tiny bits all the way, so there was a small pile of mint chocolate in the bottom of each mug when we drank it.  Oh well!  Still good, but not nearly as good and creamy rich as using all white chocolate.  (No photos of the mint version!)

*I forgot to mention before that I added the seeds of one vanilla bean to the dry mix.  I like this addition.  :)

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

About 20 Servings

3 cups nonfat dry milk powder

2 cups powdered sugar
1½ cups cocoa powder, dutch-process or natural
1½ cups white chocolate chips or finely chopped white chocolate
¼ teaspoon salt (I used Kosher flake)
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out, optional

1.  Stir together all ingredients in a large bowl. Working in two (or more) batches, depending on the size of your food processor, pulse the ingredients in a food processor until the chocolate is finely ground. Store the dry mix in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

2.  To make each serving of hot cocoa, put 1/3 cup of the cocoa mix in a mug and stir in 1 cup of hot milk.  Top with marshmallows if desired.  :)

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