Hot cocoa

According to Cook's Country, this is the Best Ever Hot Cocoa Mix.

Makes about 20 servings

Ingredients

• 3 cups nonfat dry milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Combine ingredients in large bowl. Working in two batches, pulse ingredients in food processor until chocolate is finely ground. Store in airtight container for up to 3 months. To make hot cocoa, stir 1/3 cup of this mix into 1 cup of hot milk. Top with whipped cream or mini marshmallows.

Notes

From Cook's Country

Nonfat dry milk adds a sweet dairy flavor to the cocoa, especially if you reconstitute the mix with hot milk instead of hot water.

Confectioners’ sugar works best in this recipe--it dissolves quickly and the cornstarch (an ingredient manufacturers add to the sugar to prevent clumping) helps thicken the cocoa.

White chocolate provided our cocoa with a soft, creamy texture and pushes the chocolate flavor to new heights.

To consider

White chocolate chips -- Chocolate chips usually have a stabilizer that helps them keep their shape when subject to high temperature. So if I used white chocolate at all (I'm not a fan), I'd use the equivalent amount of a white chocolate bar, chopped.

Espresso powder -- Often used to heighten chocolate flavor. I use a rounded teaspoon of instant espresso powder for a 12-oz mug of hot cocoa. Multiplying this for 20 8-oz servings of hot cocoa amounts to 1-1/4 cups of espresso powder for the above mix.