There is nothing to warm you on a cold day like the old stand-by, hot chocolate! If you like to try something new every once in a while or of you have family or friends who don’t like chocolate (Is there such a person? : ) ) on your gift list, here is something different– Strawberry hot chocolate. Try dipping the rim of the glass in in some melted white chocolate chips for a more festive look.
Take your favorite hot chocolate mix or use the one I have included below and replace the chocolate Nestle Quik with Strawberry Quik and the chocolate pudding with vanilla pudding. Serve hot with whipped cream or marshmallows, topping it all with red sugar or sprinkles for a really festive look.
Hot Chocolate Mix
10 2/3 cups dry milk
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 lb. (2 cups) Nestle Quik (chocolate or strawberry)*
1 1/2 cups non-dairy creamer
2 small packages instant chocolate (or vanilla) pudding mix**
1 tsp. salt
Sift the ingredients into a large bowl. Place the mix in airtight containers.
*I am so picky about hot chocolate made with water because, even in the best recipes, it still doesn’t have that made with milk taste so I add an extra 2 cups of Nestle Quik to my recipe on top of what is written above for the perfect taste.
**You might add a package of white chocolate or cheesecake pudding for a different flavor in place of one of the vanilla pudding mixes.
Attach this to the jar:
Hot Chocolate: 5 Tbsp. (1/3 cup) Hot Chocolate Mix, 1 cup hot water (not boiling), marshmallows or whipped cream
Place the Hot Chocolate Mix into a mug. Add water. Stir until Hot Chocolate mix is dissolved. Garnish as desired with marshmallows or whipped cream. Serves 1.
For more homemade jar mix recipes, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbook.
Photo By: Andy Hay
Hi,
I used to buy the store brand of Nestle’s Quik and we ran out, so I mixed three parts of plain sugar with one part baking cocoa, along with a smidgen of salt, and shook it up in the empty container. The kids said it tasted fine and although it doesn’t mix really well with cold milk, it did mix up sufficiently in hot milk. Just this morning, I made up a new batch, using 3 cups of sugar and one cup of baking cocoa, and based on paying $2.95 for 5 lbs. sugar and $2.49 for 8 ounces of baking cocoa (store brands), I calculated a cost of $1.78 to make enough homemade Quik to fill our old container higher than the store original amount, net weight on container is 30 oz. So, where I shop, this would have cost $3.69 or more. If I remember this correctly, there are about 2 cups per pound of sugar, and there are 45 tablespoons of baking cocoa in an 8 oz. can. Salt adds something, and I used a half teaspoon for this amount. I don’t know why I never did this before! I have sixteen children who love hot chocolate.
A pinch of salt tends to bring out the flavor in anything with a lot of sugar. When I make my basic powder sugar (buttercream) frosting I always add a pinch of salt to it. It really makes a difference and adds to to sweetness oddly enough.
I heard some time ago (but haven’t tried it yet) that you can buy the full-fat dry milk, instead of the nonfat dry milk, in the Mexican foods section of the grocery store. Supposedly this makes it taste like hot cocoa, not hot chocolate water.
Have you tried this?
Sarah
Sarah I haven’t tried this but maybe some of our other readers have.
If given as a gift, you could add a 1/3 cup measuring cup with the mix to make it easier for the person to fix.
when you combine your cocoa and sugar, add either full fat or non fat dry milk powder, let’s say two parts, since that is how you are calculating your recipe, I would also suggest that instead of all milk powder; you could add one part milk powder and one part coffee whitener, this is how I make mine and it is “delish”. I also use confectioners sugar as it dissolves much better and gives a nicer flavour.