Waitin’ for Daylight Hot Chocolate

We absolutely love hot chocolate at our house, so we figured it was about time we put together our own recipe to find the perfect taste for us! We’ll go ahead and share the recipe now so you don’t have to scroll allllllll the way down the page, but keep in mind we’re also sharing tips and tricks to help you make your own perfect hot chocolate! And remember, we have our own whip cream recipe we shared last year you will want to add on!

Waitin’ for Daylight Hot Chocolate

*You can easily use just the powder mix for a quick and easy recipe by using 1/4 cup of mix to every 1 cup of milk (or water). Powder makes about 20 cups

*On days you need a little extra, cook it on the stove according to full directions. You'll notice we used the highest quality ingredients as far as chocolate goes. Be advised you don't have to go all out and get all the expensive stuff every time. While it's fun to splurge, you gotta be practical sometimes, too! We just had to make sure this one was extra "perfect" to have some fun and share with you!

Ingredients for Powder Mix

3 cups powdered sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup Dutch process-extra brute cocoa powder

2 1/5 cups powdered milk

2tsps cornstarch

1 tsp salt

Ingredients for Full Hot Chocolate

3 cups milk

1tsp vanilla

3 tsp cornstarch

1/4 cup half and half

1/3 cup Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate melts

1/2 cup cocoa powder mix (see ingredients above)

Directions for Just Hot Chocolate Powder

1. In a large container, pour powdered sugar, salt, brown sugar, and cocoa powder. Thoroughly mix together and place in an airtight storage container.

Directions for Waitin' for Daylight Hot Chocolate

1. Pour 3 cups of milk in a small pan and place on the stove. Turn the stove on low to prevent burning.

2. Add your half and half, real chocolate, vanilla, and cornstarch and stir consistently until chocolate is melted.

3. Pour in cocoa powder mix and whisk together with a small whisk just before boiling. This ensures thickness and letting the milk froth.

4. Pour into mugs and let cool to desired temperature

5. Top with our Western Skies Whip Cream and enjoy!

   
   
   
   

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How to make YOUR perfect hot chocolate!

Ok, now that we've share our favorite hot chocolate recipe, here's a few ways on how to make it YOUR perfect recipe! We'll cover what the difference between hot chocolate and hot cocoa, what cocoa powder to look for and why, and how the ingredients add to your perfect taste.

What's the Difference between Hot Chocolate and Hot Cocoa?

Basically the difference is the chocolate you use. If you use real chocolate it's "hot chocolate" and if you use a powder mix it's "hot cocoa."

Tips and tricks

Everyone likes their hot chocolate a little different, and sometimes going off of just one recipe doesn't work! Here's a few tips we learned along the way on how to get what we wanted.

How to get it thick: If you want your hot chocolate thick, there's a few different ways to make it so. Rule number one: always use milk. If you can't use milk, or that's still not thick enough for you, add cornstarch and half and half. You'll notice we used real hot chocolate with the powder. Not only does this sweeten that dark chocolate up a little more, but it also thickens your drink!

How to get more of a sweeter taste: Cocoa powder isn't naturally sweet, you have to add the sweetness. In all reality, it's also acidic so we 100% recommend the Dutch process cocoa powder. This takes the original cocoa and washes it in an alkaline to help neutralize it. You don't have go to the extra brute powder, just Dutch process is fine. We just enjoy that richer flavor the extra-brute likes to add. Powdered sugar helps tone down the cocoa a lot, but adding brown sugar is going to give it more of a sweeter taste with a lesser amount.

How to froth your milk and why: "Frothing" your milk adds an extra thickness to your beverage by adding air into your milk to create a creamier feel. With a small manual whisk or electric milk frother, you'll notice a big difference as it heats up!

How to keep the dark chocolate taste while adding some sweetener: you will definitely want the darker brute cocoa powder that we used! You can also not use the real chocolate and just use the powder at the ratio of 1/4 cup mix to 1 cup milk, or you can even take out one cup of powdered sugar as well!

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Hopefully we've given you a wonderful recipe and the steps to make it even more perfect for you! Share with us your favorite way to make your hot chocolate by emailing us at thebar21ranch@gmail.com We'd love to hear from you!