Wednesday is the day that I post a black and white food related photo. This week, I’m getting in the Christmas spirit and sharing an ornament from my tree. My glass ‘chef’ ornament came from Germany. Did you know that the Germans were the first to create glass ornaments for the tree? And that Queen Victoria made them immensely popular when she had a of her glass ornament decorated tree in the London paper. The tree was decorated in glass ornaments in honor of her husbands home country, you guessed it, Germany.
If you are interested in seeing more culinary black and white photos or participating, head over to my hostess Susan’s site, The Well Seasoned Cook. Note: We are officially not doing anymore BWW till next year, but I did anyways (good practice for me).
Boy, have I been busy! Getting ready for Christmas, family visiting and the par-tays (of which I have one tonight), it feels like I have no time to do my blogging thing (I am hopelessly behind in my Foodbuzz inbox and Google Reader). What I did find some time for was making some hot cocoa mix.
I totally stole this from Monica at The Yummy Life (with permission). A couple of months ago I started following Monica’s blog when I got her as an assignment for Secret Recipe Club, she has great gift giving ideas and recipes. Two weeks ago I ran across her post for Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix. A perfect gift to give around here. Hot cocoa on a cold winter’s night, made for Montana!
Monica had a few stir in suggestions, I tried the cinnamon one and that was it. Chocolate, cinnamon, and a wee bit of cayenne made my kind of hot chocolate. Instead of suggesting the cinnamon as a stir in, I added it to the mix and called in Mexican Hot Chocolate.
I packed my hot chocolate mix in cellophane bags topped with marshmallows, tied them off and used a cinnamon stick and ribbon for decorations. I put the mix in some mugs that were on clearance or ones that were acquired from the dollar store, for a super inexpensive yet tasty gift. I didn’t get as fancy as Monica and print her labels or even bother to make my own printed labels, I just wrote on the back of a gift tag. It makes a great hostess gift!
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa (Dutch-process recommended)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
- 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Add sugar and cocoa to food processor. Pulse until well-mixed. (Or, combine ingredients in large bowl and whisk until well mixed.) Add salt, cornstarch, cinnamon and cayenne; pulse until mixed. Add powdered milk; process for 20-30 seconds until well mixed. Transfer mix to bowl and stir in chocolate chips. Store in airtight container.
- Mix 3 tablespoons of the hot chocolate mix in an 8 ounce mug with hot water or milk and stir until mix is dissolved. Top with mini marshmallows if desired.
Click to Print a Recipe Card
It is indeed a busy time! Love your baking Santa ornament. I love all Mexican chocolate recipes. Am saving this for gift ideas for next year. I think I will add a bit of cinnamon to the mix. Have a great PAR-TAY tonight!
LOVE the way you dolled up the cocoa mix in those great mugs and festive ribbon. Fantastic photo! Who wouldn’t love that gift? Thanks for the link back to my recipe. It’s fun having you as a blogging buddy. 🙂
Adorable!
Oh what a delicious Christmas treat this would be! Hot chocolate is comforting enough as is, but with that extra spicy warmth from cayenne and cinnamon, it must be like soul food! (or soul beverage in this case)
I have so much cocoa that I WILL need to try this one – and I love the idea of using it as a gift. Actually I’d wish that I had to give Christmas presents to more people this year, so I could use some of all the gift ideas out there.
But maybe next year.
I love the idea of spicing up plain old hot cocoa with Mexican flavors. Yummy Holidays to you!