Pantry Basics: Make Your Own Hot Cocoa Mix

Hot cocoa mix is nice to have on hand for special winter moments (hot chocolate after playing in the snow is classic) or when camping. Of course this is something I used to buy at the store until I started reading ingredient labels. Have you ever looked to see what’s in hot chocolate mixes? I was shocked at the length of the list, which drove me to find a recipe for homemade cocoa mix.

Our favorite came from Brian’s Kansas grandmother – an old Farm Journal cookbook that’s well-used with the binding coming apart in places. It was first published in 1959, although we have the revised edition of 1972. It’s become a treasure trove of good recipes for cooking from scratch.

I was looking for a mix that would only require boiling water when making the hot chocolate so it would be convenient for camping and this makes a great cup of cocoa (at home we usually just make hot chocolate by adding homemade chocolate syrup to hot milk). Try this the next time you need dry hot chocolate mix!

I’m posting the picture of the ingredients so you can imprint them on your memory. Then the next time you are at the store and pull one of those cocoa mixes off the shelf and take a look at the ingredients, remember the FOUR ingredients in this picture! It’s all you need – so buy them instead and make yourself a stash of cocoa.

Here’s how to make your own cocoa mix:

1. Dump the milk, sugar, and cocoa in a blender. This is key to getting a smooth mix like the commercial mixes.

2. Whir it up until it’s the consistency of a good cocoa mix. In my blender, it tends to get stuck on the sides, so I have to shake it a bit and use a spatula to push the ingredients to the center to get it fully blended (with the machine off, of course!).

3. Store in a nice glass jar with a scoop. Depending on the size of the mug, 1/4 cup should equal a packet of commercial mix.

-Jami

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