Instant Hot Cocoa Mix

When the summer is over and the winter brings in perpetual cold, you need several ways to make yourself warm again. You pile on the blankets, you stoke up the fire, you down the hot cocoa. Hot chocolate is one of the best parts of wintertime, in my opinion. It can hit the spot after a long day at school or work, and it can fill you up from your toes to your nose.

Hot chocolate is the best way to start and end a winter day, but you do need to have the best hot cocoa. I love buying hot chocolate from Starbucks or Peaberry's, however, buying a cup of hot chocolate can get expensive if you buy it regularly. So, you might have to resort to using a mix for your hot chocolate. My favorite store-bought hot cocoa mix is a Nestle brand, but even that can sometimes be more than my monthly budget can afford. So, what am I left to do? I need to make my own hot cocoa mix. Making your own hot cocoa mix is more than easy and will leave you never wanting to go back to the cocoa you had before.

You will need the following ingredients:

• 20 quart package of powdered milk
• 2 pound can of Hershey's instant cocoa
• 1 large jar of Cremora powdered creamer (or any other kind of powdered creamer)
• 2–3 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons of salt, if desired

All you have to do is mix these ingredients together in a large container, preferably in an old five-gallon container. Mix it slowly to make sure that you mix all the ingredients in together—you don't want have a cupful of simple powdered milk, now do you? You can add more of whatever ingredient you want, whether that be powdered milk, instant cocoa, creamer, or powdered sugar. The cocoa and the powdered creamer can also be flavored if you so desire. You can add whatever extra special ingredient to the instant cocoa mix if you want—make it yours!

This particular recipe will likely last you all throughout the winter, and maybe even further. Keep the large container of cocoa in your food storage, and just keep refilling your regular cocoa mix container. When you use the cocoa mix, about five teaspoons will suffice for a mug of boiling water. Boil the water first, add the five teaspoons of cocoa mix to the mug, and then add the boiling water to the mug. Let the cocoa cool a bit, and then enjoy your completely homemade cup of hot chocolate!