Now that winter is upon us, there’s nothing better than a great mug of hot chocolate. It’s so easy to make your own mix and you can control how dense you want your chocolate to be. It’s from Smitten Kitchen and makes about 1 ½ cups of mix (which will give you about 9 cups of cocoa). It so quick, it takes longer to assemble the ingredients, than it does to toss them together. If you’re looking for an easy hostess or holiday gift, this is a winner.
The Easiest Hot Chocolate Mix
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
- ½ cup cocoa powder (like Droste, or Scharffen Berger)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until powdery. Store in a jar or airtight container.
To use: heat a cup of milk in a small pan or microwave (about 2 minutes) until steamy. Add 3 tablespoons of the mix and stir really well until it’s melted and combined. Serve with marshmallows, whipped cream or just plain and enjoy!
My verdict:
On first taste, the resemblance to Swiss Miss (or any other commercial cocoa mix) was pretty good—which in my book, is not a glowing recommendation. If that’s how you like your cocoa, go for it! I want mine richer, with darker chocolate and not so sweet. If you’ve ever been to Angelina’s in Paris, you’ll know what the gold standard is. What’s good about the recipe, is that you can easily tweak it. Now I use bittersweet chocolate (or super bittersweet) instead of semi-sweet and I cut back the sugar to 1/3 cup or less, since you can always add it back in if need be. And since I’ve been buying chocolate in 4 ounce bars, I might just toss the whole bar in. If you wanted, you could add some instant espresso, mint or chilles, just don’t try to sneak it by me, ok?
