Awhile ago, I was at a Christmas party at church, and I gave a jar of homemade hot chocolate mix to one of my friends. After that night, she asked for the recipe. Then she asked for it again. And then again. Then she suggested I blog about it.

Well, it’s two years later, and she patiently suggested on facebook that I post the recipe for the 12 Days of Christmas. So, here it is.

This recipe works best when you have powdered vanilla. It’s a bit difficult to find, but it is available online. King Arthur carries it, and so does Beanilla. I would suggest the latter, as it has the best prices.

But of course, you can always find it at amazon.

Oh, and one more thing—this is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time—I have included a PDF label, which has instructions for making a cup of cocoa. Print it off and use it for gifts.

dark hot chocolate mix

This amount makes enough for 3 one cup jars. Double and triple as needed.

1 cup dark cocoa powder (Hershey’s Special Dark, or any other brand that is processed with alkali)
2 cups superfine, or granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla powder (if you can find it; if not, add 1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract to each cup of hot chocolate)
1 4 ounce chocolate bar, very finely chopped (a serrated knife works well)

1. Combine all ingredients together and place in jars.

2. To make a cup of hot chocolate, heat 8 ounces of milk to almost boiling, add two tablespoons of mix. Whisk thoroughly until the chocolate bar pieces are melted.

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11 Responses to “dark hot cocoa mix”

1. Sylvie says:

   16 December 2010 at 3:59 am

   I love to make hot cocoa mixes as gifts during the holidays. You are right, vanilla powder is hard to find sometimes. I’m thinking you could also substitute vanilla sugar, what do you think?
2. Jaime says:

   16 December 2010 at 9:09 am

   Yes, vanilla sugar is a great idea, too. I tried the mix yesterday without the vanilla, just to see how much we’d miss in flavor if we left it out, and it wasn’t bad, actually. I’ve forgotten to add vanilla in a chocolate cake once, and it was terrible, but for some reason the hot cocoa is fine.
3. Jaime says:

   16 December 2010 at 9:12 am

   If you want a recipe for vanilla sugar, you can use my vanilla tea sugar recipe, just substitute superfine or granulated sugar for the turbinado sugar. Click here for that recipe.
4. suzanne singer says:

   16 December 2010 at 10:22 pm

   This is the best! Thanks so much Jaime!
5. Sylvie says:

   17 December 2010 at 4:04 am

   Thanks for the link to your vanilla sugar recipe. I’ve never tried making it with raw sugar before, just white. I’ll give that a try.
6. Jen T says:

   19 December 2010 at 9:11 pm

   hot chocolate is the best at Christmas! Yum! Thanks!
7. bell says:

   3 February 2011 at 9:34 am

   This sounds delish! A great gift idea for Winter. Ehen you say ’4oz chocolate bar’, what kind of chocolate should you use – milk, semisweet, unsweetened? What do you use? Thanks! Bell
8. Jaime says:

   3 February 2011 at 9:50 am

   Bell–I use semi sweet or dark chocolate, usually. But you can use whatever you have.
9. bell says:

   7 February 2011 at 4:04 pm

   Thanks, I made it this evening. I thought hot chocolate was a pretty standard thing, but this is exceptional; thank you!
10. Elizabeth says:

    20 December 2011 at 6:21 pm

    My children and I made this this evening – yummy! It was so tasty they asked if we could make an extra batch for each of their teachers at school. Thanks for such a tasty recipe!
11. Jaime {sophistimom} says:

    20 December 2011 at 6:37 pm

    Ooh, I’m so glad you made this! Merry Christmas!