Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Ummmm..... something about the cold weather and hot chocolate

Ok enough intro, onto the important stuff

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix
You Will Need:
3 cups nonfat instant dry milk powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips 
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Mix all ingredients into a large bowl. Pour half of the mixture into the bowl of a food processor and process until the chocolate is finely ground. Transfer to an airtight container, then repeat with the remaining mix. Store in the airtight container for up to 3 months.

To make the hot cocoa drink, mix 1/3 cup of the cocoa mix with 1 cup hot milk. About 20 servings

Using that much powder stuff, I ended up with a good size mess. But it was easy to clean up.

The Verdict: I mixed it with milk and with water to see how it compared. 

The milk was definitely creamier and pretty good. 

The water mixture was thinner but had a richer taste

Both of them left a cocoa powder after taste in my mouth which I wasn't to fond of but it was subtle. Also, it doesn't mix as well as other mixtures I've tried.  There is a good amount of mixture that settles on the bottom, but it's an easy fix, just don't drink the last bit. 

Overall, it was better then any store bought packets I have tried, but not nearly as good as Starbucks.  But that might be because they use whole milk and whip cream. 

4th Of July Drinks

Have you seen those 4th of July drinks on Pinterest?  The red, white and blue ones?  I've seen so many different photos of them that I didn't doubt that it actually worked, what I wanted to know was how it tasted.

4th of July Drink
You Will Need:
Cranberry Juice
Blue Frost Gatorade
Diet 7-Up

Directions:
Fill your glass completely full with ice.  Pour in Cranberry Juice.  Pour in the Blue Gatorade Frost. Make sure to pour gently onto the ice so that it does not mix with the red juice. Pour in the Diet 7up, also pour onto an ice cube to prevent them from mixing.

First of all, the vast amount of ice is key.  No matter how carefully you pour the drink in, if you don't have ice you get this.

So I grabbed my a couple of glasses and filled them both with ice.  With all that ice I realized things might get interesting when I tried to drink it, so I shoved a straw into one. 

Very slowly I started to pour.  The Gatorade did mix with the cranberry juice a little bit but not enough to change the color. 

 The Verdict: I didn't want to attempt a huge spill, so I went for the drink with the straw.  I took a sip and not surprisingly all I tasted was cranberry juice.  I pulled the straw higher and sure enough I could only taste the Gatorade.  Those liquids were pretty determined to stay separated.  I decided to put a stop to all that segregation and gave my drink a good stir.

 I wasn't a fan.  I thought it tasted like watered down cranberry juice.  My husband thought it was great and finished his and mine.

I have only tried this one combination, but looking at other sites it looks like this drink is very customizable.  You can choose any drink for the red, blue and white. It's the sugar content that matters.  The drink with the most sugar needs to be on the bottom while a sugar free drink will sit on the top.  So if you plan on making this then you might want to attempt a few combinations until you find the one that your taste buds prefer. 


HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!!!!!