Hot, hot, hot...Hot Chocolate!

On Monday, I wrote about our caroling plans for school...and what Christmas caroling experience is complete without the hot chocolate?  My students bring the cookies, but I provide hot chocolate, with the help of many crock pots!

Both of these recipes are from the Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook by Phyllis Pellman Good.  I've adapted them to fit into a busy teacher's schedule.



Be sure that any students who are medically restricted from drinking hot chocolate have an alternative.  Also, make sure that it is not "too" hot for safety reasons.

This is what I've done before:

Caroler's Hot Chocolate

10 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups hot water

Night before:

Mix together sugar, salt, and cocoa in pan. Add hot water. Stir and boil 3 minutes, stirring often.

Take off the heat, add milk, and I put into gallon jugs to take to school.

That morning:

Put into crock pots, heat until ready.

Based on reviews from the students in years past, I think that this is a little strong, so it could be watered down some.  The recipe says that this makes 12-14 1-cup servings, but in the Styrofoam cups I usually use, it's more like a 1/2 cup serving.

Here's a new recipe that I'm considering trying this year, to save myself the cost of all that milk...

Hot Chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups boiling water
3 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
6 cups water
1 tsp. vanilla

Night Before:

1. Combine sugar and cocoa powder in slow cooker. Add 2 cups boiling water. Stir well to dissolve.

2. Add dry milk powder, 6 cups water, and vanilla. Stir well to dissolve. Refrigerate it for the night.

That morning:

3. Cook on high 1-1.5 hours.

4. Haha, next it says to "Before serving, beat with rotary beater to make frothy". I love my students, but sorry, this is NOT Starbucks...