Homemade Hot Chocolate

Merry Christmas! I wanted to share a warm and fuzzy holiday treat with you today (well, maybe not *fuzzy*) and hot chocolate seemed to fit the bill.

You can cuddle up with a mug of this hot chocolate by the fire for the perfect winter evening!

Homemade Hot Chocolate
Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

Ingredients:
2 vanilla beans
4 c granulated sugar
24 oz high-quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
9 oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 c Dutch process cocoa

Directions:

Split and scrape the vanilla beans and place in a large bowl with the sugar. Mix seeds into the sugar with your fingers. Transfer to an airtight container and bury the pods within the sugar. Cover tightly and let sit overnight at room temperature.

You just made vanilla sugar. This stuff is *awesome.* I like to use it in sugar cookies to add a little extra flavor. YUM.

In a food processor fitted with metal blade, process semisweet chocolate and dark chocolate until finely ground, using 4-second pulses. Process in batches, if necessary. I used chocolate chips and ended up having to use both the blender and food processor to get it fine enough.

Remove pods from sugar. Add ground chocolate and cocoa powder to sugar and whisk to blend, making sure to combine well.

Store mix airtight at room temperature for up to six months. Yields: 76 2-Tbsp servings

To serve, heat 1 cup of milk and mix in 2 Tbsps of the mixture.

I mixed some holly sprinkles (green and red) in with mine to give it a little holiday flair. Don’t worry about the green stuff at the top. Those are sprinkles.

Add Peppermint Marshmallows and you have an awesome treat!

Enjoy!