Peppermint Stick Cocoa

I am kicking myself right now for not saving even one glass jar this year. Had I saved them I could have layered this Peppermint Stick Cocoa into the jars and tied a ribbon on them and gave them out as gifts and stocking stuffers. I know to do so this upcoming year.

Growing up I don't remember having set Christmas traditions. My memories from Christmas Eve were that us kids were allowed to open up one present and milk and chocolate chips cookies were left for Santa. The next morning we would wake to find that Santa had polished off the chocolate chip cookies and Rudolph had taken a drink of milk. The way we knew Rudolph had drank the milk was because it was tinted red from his nose. It was exciting seeing the cookie crumbles and the evidence that even Rudolph had visited our house while we were all fast asleep. Presents would be opened at either our house or our grandparents home and then we played with our toys until dinnertime.

Having a family of my own and not living close to our family members made me really want to start setting our own family traditions. I think it is so important to have provide those memories for my own child.

Because we go to Jason's hometown back in Ohio every year in December in the middle of the month into the new year we have our Christmas Eve and Christmas the weekend before we leave on our road trip. Last night was our "Christmas Eve" and as our new tradition, if you can call it that, since tradition implies that something is the norm, we decided on having hot chocolate and doughnuts.

Santa isn't going to be seeing milk and cookies in this house but I'm sure he wouldn't mind a change up along his route for some Peppermint Stick Cocoa and Maple Glazed Sour Cream Doughnut Holes (recipe tomorrow).

Before mixing all of the ingredients together I layered them into my Tupperware container to get the visual effect of what the jars would have looked like. It appeared like those bottles of colored sand I created as a kid. After adding 1/3 cup of the Peppermint Stick Cocoa to my oversized mug I added 1 cup of boiling water and just for the occasion five ginormous marshmallows. The original recipe didn't call for the marshmallows but I had them in the pantry and hot chocolate with marshmallows is a must.

I think this would be even better with warm milk instead of the boiling water to give it a creamier taste. This was a festive addition for the holiday and a tradition I'll be looking forward to every year to come. Those doughnuts... they'll be worth checking back tomorrow for the recipe. In the meantime keep those toesies warm and snuggle under a blanket with a big mug of this cocoa.

Peppermint Stick Cocoa

MyRecipes.com and Sunset, December 2004

Makes 1 Quart mix or 12 hot cocoa serving (1/3 cup cocoa mix to 1 cup water)

Stars of the Show:

• 1 cup powdered milk
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy

And Action:

Layer powdered milk, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, chocolate chips, and peppermint candies. Just before serving mix the ingredients. So simple. Store the remaining mix in an airtight container.

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 172 (17% from fat)

Protein: 3.7g

Fat: 3.2g (sat 1.9)

Carbohydrate: 37g

Fiber: 2.6g

Sodium: 136mg

Cholesterol: 1mg