Tag: hot cocoa mix

Instant Hot Cocoa Mix Recipe

Wolsey3 Comments

I don’t really drink caffeine much at all. I used to drink coffee when I was young, but then I switched to tea when the caffeine was getting to me. When that was a lot I stopped that too, and now I like a hot beverage in the morning, but not the caffeine. I drink cocoa instead, and yes it has a smidge of caffeine, but not enough to trip me up.

I also don’t have much of a sweet tooth, so most commercial mixes are way too sweet for me. I do it when I eat out for breakfast, but on the day to day breakfast? I prefer less sugar. I feel like everyone is competing for the sweetest hot cocoa mix.

I also like a bit of heat in my cocoa, so I make mine with cayenne pepper. Just a tiny smidge.

This started as an Alton Brown recipe, but it’s since been tinkered with to fit my needs.

I like to lay out all the ingredients out before I start in case I miss one. Ignore the batch of tomatoes. They just keep growing, so I need to make more tomato sauce. Also ignore I have four tins of cocoa powder. We kept buying it and opening it, and now I have like three half tins and a full one.

Ingredients:

  • 5 Cups whole Dry ilk. (No Nonfat! It won’t work right!)
  • 4 Cups Powdered Sugar
  • 1 Cup White Sugar
  • 2 Cups Cocoa Powder
  • 4 Tsp Cornstarch
  • 2 Tsp Salt
  • 1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

Directions:

  • Toss it all in a bowl, and mix with a whisk.
  • To use, put 1.5 TBSP, or one heaping spoon full in your mug, and fill with hot water.
  • Adjust everything to taste.
Whisk a lot to make sure it’s incorporated, but carefully so you don’t toss powder all over the kitchen.

I was worried about calories because that is a lot of whole milk, but I put it in MyFitnessPal.com, which isn’t 110%, but it turns out it comes to approximately 46 calories for 1.5 TBSP of the stuff, so go wild. The lowest calorie packet I could find was a generic Winco packet for 110 calories so this beats the pants off of that.

I converted everything into tablespoons for the recipe and at 1.5 TBSP for each serving it comes to about 130 servings, in case you were wondering. I make this up every few months.

This is a screen shot from MyFitnessPal’s recipe calories screen.

Lastly, be prepared for storage. It makes a lot.

Finished mix in containers and one cup of cocoa, and a thumb in the lower right corner because I have fat fumbling fingers. I keep the ball canning jar on the counter, and the rest in the cupboard out of sight.

I’ve been doing this for years now, and honestly I even take it with me when I travel. Trying to get a non caffeinated option at a hotel is stupid hard for some reason. I just pack it up in little bags and add water.