Homemade Hot Cocoa

I did it. I made my own hot cocoa. Its so ridiculously easy! Why didn't I do this before?  Its cheaper. OK so I didn't do the math, but it has to be. If it isn't at least its better for you which is priceless right? So. It's cheaper, better for you and better tasting than the envelope crap. I happened to use mostly organic ingredients so that is a plus for me.
Here is what you need.

 Plus salt and cayenne which I didn't photograph.
You don't have to use organic ingredients, of course. I just try to whenever possible because I know its better for us.

Homemade (mostly Organic) Hot Cocoa Mix:

1 1/2 cups of organic sugar (2 cups if you like it sweeter. I don't like a lot of sugar)
2 cups organic cocoa powder 
1 TBSP good cinnamon
2 dashes of sea salt (scant 1/8 tsp)
optional:
2 small dashes of cayenne pepper

Just mix all ingredients together then add 1 super heaping soup spoon (is that right? The big one in your flatware set? I just call it a shovel.) to your hot milk or if you prefer, water. I suggest milk. I use Publix brand organic milk.

 Stir thoroughly and enjoy!
Its always better in a favorite mug. I used to have a thing for flamingos when I was a teen and this cup is from that flamingo obsessed time period. I still smile whenever I see them.

One thing I did was to use my food processor to pulverize the sugar. Since I use organic sugar its darker and the granules are larger than normal white sugar. So to make it melt faster in the hot milk and keep it from sinking to the bottom of the dry mix, I ran the sugar in the food processor with the blade attachment for a minute or so.  I am not really sure what to do if  you don't have a food processor. Sorry. (update: duh! Use powdered sugar. drrrrr!)

See the difference?  The one on the right is the pulverized sugar.

 I  just used my food processor to mix in the rest of the ingredients since it was already dirty.  You can just stir it all together or put it in a jar and shake if you don't have a food processor.

Penzey's Spices has some awesome cinnamon that I used. If you are reading this and decide you don't want to make your own cocoa mix Penzey's has the most amazing hot cocoa mix ever with most of the same ingredients as this mix. I used the same type, Ceylon cinnamon, that they used in the mix that I bought last month.  There are no preservatives, dairy, or "what is that" ingredients.

By the way, here is the ingredient list from Nestle Rich Hot Chocolate Mix -Sugar, Corn Syrup Solids, Partially Hydrogenated Coconut or Palm Kernal Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Dairy Product Solids (From Milk), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Calcium Carbonate, Contains Less Than 2% of:, Salt, Cellulose Gum, Sodium Caseinate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Guar Gum, Skim Milk, Sodium Aluminosilicate, Mono and Diglycerides, Artificial Flavors, Sucralose

Why must it have all that crap in it? Seriously. Make your own.

   
 Store in an airtight container. I got this one for $5 at Publix last year. A mason jar would have worked too, but this was my hot chocolate pack container and I love it.

Hope you give this a try and enjoy your homemade hot cocoa!
Thanks for reading.