How To Make Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix (That Your Kids Will Love!)

How to make a homemade hot chocolate mix from scratch that your kids will love!  This homemade hot chocolate mix is free of refined sugars and totally paleo, clean eating, gluten-free, and easily vegan!

I’m so excited for Winter to be here!

Okay, I am excited 😉

The colder weather has me craving all sorts of hot drinks, especially a hot cup of hot chocolate.

I used to typically keep a box of hot chocolate mix, usually one like Swiss Miss, in the pantry so we could have our little hot cocoa fix every now and then.

In the Fall and Winter, we would go through those Swiss Miss hot chocolate boxes pretty quickly.

The problems with hot chocolate mixes are:

• when you’re out, you’re out (no hot cocoa mix = no homemade hot cocoa = sad little puppy faces on the girls)
• very processed ingredients (and lots of them)

Ever wondered what’s in the hot chocolate mix?  Well, the Swiss Miss hot chocolate recipe, for example, contains sugar, corn syrup, dipotassium phosphate, mono- and diglycerides, carrageenan, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, and artificial flavor.  No, thank you.

So, I decided to make my own hot chocolate mix recipe so we’d…

1. never run out of hot cocoa mix (woot!);
2. be able to control all the ingredients.  My recipe for hot chocolate mix requires dark cocoa powder, coconut sugar, cinnamon, vanilla powder, and sea salt (plus the milk). Which means you can make healthy hot chocolate.

BIG difference.

IS HOT CHOCOLATE GOOD FOR YOU?

You probably expect a no. BUT I have good news. Hot chocolate is surprisingly good for you. WOOT.

I know, I know, how exciting!

• Chocolate, particularly dark chocolate is actually healthy and good for you. Not only because it can make you happy (literally! since chocolate can aid depression) but because it slows down the digestive process and it creates a feeling of fullness.
• Milk is a great source of vitamin D and calcium, which is also great.

Now, all those unhealthy ingredients that can be found in store-bought hot chocolate mixes I mentioned earlier are not ok.

But if you make a healthy homemade hot chocolate, you will get numerous health benefits. And a lovely warm and cozy feeling inside. Yay!

If you have kids, this is the best hot chocolate mix recipe to use because they get to see all the ingredients that go into the healthy hot chocolate.  I love watching my kids break down recipes and see how simple they really can be.

I made this healthy hot chocolate recipe with Jordan and she got to do almost all the steps and really got a kick out of understanding the different powders, spices, and flavors that make up her tasty and healthy hot chocolate. She did all the mixing and pouring and I cooked it on the stove. Love that kid.

So, in summary, here’s the list of awesomeness for why you should totally learn how to make homemade hot chocolate mix and how to make hot chocolate (and why it’s the best!):

• Super, duper yummy — like, the best thing everrrrrr.
• Never run out of cocoa mix again (score!).
• Neat idea for homemade gifts for the holidays — just pour it into a mason jar and *poof* - hot chocolate in a jar - instant Pinterest-worthy gift.
• Your children and husband/wife will totally worship you (and will totally be happy and smiling with chocolate covered faces).
• Total kid-friendly recipe.
• Free of refined ingredients.
• Paleo, gluten-free, and clean eating.  Vegan, too, if you use a non-dairy milk!
• How many calories in hot chocolate? 89 cal. OMG, amazeballs!

P.S. These pics are of Jordan making the homemade hot cocoa mix a few years ago.  She looks so small in these pics — hard to believe how big she’s gotten.  Still thinks this is the best hot chocolate mix recipe ever.

HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY HOT CHOCOLATE MIX

Learning how to make hot cocoa mix is like the easiest and best thing in the world.

To make homemade cocoa mix all you have to do is mix all the dry ingredients together.

The flavors are so much more robust and deeper than the pre-packaged hot chocolate powders you buy and the creaminess and hot chocolatey deliciousness that you get from making it yourself will make you never want to buy it at the store again.  Oh, the goodness!

Plus you can control all the ingredients so you don’t have to worry about corn syrup and granulated sugar being added, as well as crazy processed ingredients you don’t even know about.

So, yea, I guess you could say it’s pretty dang awesome.

All in all, this is the best hot chocolate mix any of us have ever had.

HOT CHOCOLATE MIX INGREDIENTS

The great thing about this hot chocolate mix is how versatile it is.  For instance, you can easily make this entire hot chocolate mix without any dairy by using a non-dairy milk.  My favorites are unsweetened almond milk and unsweetened coconut milk. Both make a surprisingly similar creamy, dreamy hot cocoa, but any milk will work perfectly.

Oh, the lusciousness!

As for the hot cocoa mix recipe, we have:

• cocoa powder;
• coconut sugar;
• sea salt;
• vanilla powder;
• ground cinnamon.

Simple, clean ingredients but totes amazing hot chocolate results.

HOW TO MAKE HOT CHOCOLATE WITH YOUR MIX

To transform the healthy hot chocolate mix into a delicious hot chocolate…

1. heat a saucepan over medium heat;
2. add the homemade hot chocolate mix into the saucepan;
3. add the milk into the hot cocoa mix slowly, stirring constantly;
4. stir frequently until you bring the hot chocolate mix just below a simmer.

I also made some homemade marshmallows which sent the girls over the edge into a blissful hot chocolate, marshmallowy heaven. And, yea, ok…me, too.  These marshmallows are corn syrup free, but still need a few more tweaks to be free of all refined sugars.  More to come on that!

If you’re not a marshmallow fan, you can enjoy this healthy hot chocolate with w.

HOT CHOCOLATE IN A JAR GIFT IDEAS

Since this homemade hot chocolate mix is a powder (dry), it makes the perfect gift for the holidays. I’m talking about a Hot Chocolate in a jar gift! You can either include instructions with the hot chocolate mix to just add the milk or you could even add dried/dehydrated milk so it’s just an “add water and go” kinda awesomeness.

In order to make this completely dry for gifts, you can follow this rule:

1 cup milk = ¼ cup dry milk and 1 cup water

So, if you’re making the recipe as written, you’d need 1 cup dry milk and then explain in the directions just to add 4 cups of water.  Bing bang boom.

If you’re not making for gifts and you’re making it right away, you can also substitute the vanilla powder with pure vanilla extract, since there’s no need to have it be dried.  You can use a 1:1 ratio for the powder to liquid, but just add it to the hot chocolate mix once it’s heated through and you’ve removed it from the heat.

3 MORE HOT DRINKS RECIPES

Congratulations, you just learned how to make hot cocoa mix from scratch and how to make healthy hot chocolate! Are you thinking what I’m thinking? More Winter-perfect hot drinks? Yes, that’s exactly what I had in mind.

HOT APPLE CIDER

I love when my house smells like apples, oranges, and cinnamon during Winter. Not from a candle but from my Hot Apple Cider.

This Easy Hot Apple Cider is refined-sugar free, healthy, and it has all the best Winter flavors in one hot drink that will make you feel warm and happy. Get the recipe.

(BETTER THAN STARBUCKS!) EGGNOG LATTE

I used to love my occasional trip to Starbucks but my wallet didn’t and neither did my health. So I decided to make flavored lattes at home including this (Better Than Starbucks!) Eggnog Latte.

Made with light eggnog and other clean ingredients, my (better-than-Starbucks!) Eggnog Latte recipe is tasty, easy to make at home and you don’t even need an espresso maker! Get the recipe.

HOMEMADE HEALTHY PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE RECIPE

Speaking of popular Starbucks lattes, I have another latte recipe inspired by Starbucks that I decided to make healthy. Introducing my Homemade Healthy Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe.

You’ll get all the pumpkin spice goodness with this recipe but none of the refined and unhealthy ingredients. Awesome, right? Get the recipe.

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