Creamy Hot Cocoa

For quite a few years, we would say that we wanted to do this and that Christmas activity or craft, but then the season would get away from us and then it was spring again.  A lot of things got left undone.

This year I printed calendars for November and December.  I started by filling in the special days, like holidays and birthdays.  Then I added in things like grocery shopping, orthodontist appointments, etc...  When that was finished, I gathered the kids and we brainstormed ideas to fill the Christmas part of the calendar. 

Pibb's birthday is early in December and we don't begin decorating or celebrating Christmas until afterward.  We want to keep his birthday special and separate from the rest of the holiday rush. 

So we had about two weeks of Christmas activities to come up with and I think we did admirably!  We planned things like making paper chain garlands, folded paper snowflakes and Lego ornaments.  We also planned visits to the Festival of Trains (a local model railroad group sets up huge, interactive displays) and a hot cocoa tasting week with a different homemade cocoa each day! 

This week is Hot Cocoa Tasting Week and yesterday was our first attempt at homemade cocoa.  It was a huge success!  Everyone liked it, the mix was crazy simple and it made a large batch (about 25 servings) for not a large amount of cash.  If you've got a few minutes, I recommend you throw this together immediately!

Creamy Hot Cocoa Mix

4 C nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C non-dairy creamer
2/3 C cocoa powder
4 oz instant chocolate fudge pudding

Mix all together in a large bowl or jar, stirring well to combine.

Add approximately 1/4 C mix to 8 oz boiling water and stir. 

That's it.  Seriously. 

I did find that I had to buy name brand pudding, since I couldn't find a chocolate fudge version in my local store brand, but at a whopping $ .79, I think I can handle the cost.  Especially since that one ingredient seemed to take this from okay cocoa to really good cocoa! 

Today's treat is Mocha Cocoa and if it goes well, I'll post that recipe tomorrow.