Hi! Welcome to my blog. I am a major foodie, with a haphazard cooking philosophy, currently making that transition from cooking and baking for friends and family to 'wonder if I could make this my career'. Follow me for recipes, the outcomes of a few experiments, and general lovely foodiness. Opinions, reviews and recommendations are all my own.

Thursday 12 December 2013

Handmade Hot Chocolate Mix - A Perfect Christmas Gift Idea

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix - A Perfect Christmas Gift Idea

Handmade gifts are all the rage this year with the revival of all things crafty, and here is an awesomely simple and brilliant one for you. Every year, supermarkets and gift shops are filled with cheap mugs containing sachets of hot chocolate and a handful of marshmallows, crying out to be purchased for teachers, colleagues and acquaintances. With this recipe you can step it up several gears by creating the yummiest hot chocolate you have ever tasted, and presenting it in a cute personalised format for the lucky recipient. Plus - you can make sure that have enough left over for the mandatory quality control - an extra gift for you!

Finely Ground Dark Chocolate - 85% Cocoa Solids
The cocoa powder and 75% cocoa chocolate add a deep flavour to the hot chocolate, whilst the white chocolate adds a creaminess and hint of vanilla, complimented by the maltiness of the Horlicks. The cornflour prevents the mixture from clumping together.
Ingredients
4 tablespoons Horlicks
4 tablespoons cornflour
8 tablespoons icing sugar
8 tablespoons quality cocoa powder (I use Green and Blacks)
100 grams white chocolate, finely grated
200 grams dark chocolate (75% or higher cocoa solids) finely grated
5 grams salt
Method
Sift the Horlicks, cornflour, icing sugar, and cocoa powder into a large bowl. Add the salt and mix well. Grate the white and dark chocolate into the bowl. Mix well until all ingredients are evenly distributed.

To make, add 4 heaped spoonfuls of the mixture to 1 mug of hot milk and stir well. Add marshmallows, cream, sprinkles or liqueur as desired!
Transfer the mixture to individual jars, add a tag with instructions on how to make, and personalise accordingly. I bought these cute little spice jars from Tesco for £1 each, and they were perfect, the above quantities filled 4 jars exactly with no surplus.


Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked are looking for all things food gift-y this month for Tea Time Treats, so I am linking up with their challenge.


5 comments:

  1. This is a lovely idea and good to see you back on the blog :) I've been thinking about homemade foodie gift ideas for friends and this is becoming a strong contender so thanks for the inspiration :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Jen it's good to be back! I can promise friends and family will love it, I gave some out yesterday and it went down a treat! x

    ReplyDelete
  3. No surplus? That's no good, what happened to quality control? Your addition of Horlicks here is inspired. Liquid maltesers - yum.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah yes, however I only gave away 3 of the jars, and used the 4th for quality control! It didn't last long either! ;-) x

      Delete
  4. Thank you very much for entering TTT and Happy Christmas!

    ReplyDelete

Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog! I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please leave me a comment - I always try to reply as soon as possible.

You can also find me on;
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pantrydoor
Twitter: @ThePantryDoor1
Pinterest: thepantrydoor