Did y’all know there was such a thing?! When I worked at a PR agency in New York, we found basically every national food holiday possible to try and promote our clients in a new way. I celebrated National Coffee Day, World Malbec Day, Doughnut Day.. you name it. Definitely made up holidays, but these food days are a still an excuse to eat more chocolate, right? I’ve teamed up with Hartley Social and The Mall at Lexington Green to celebrate some of these holidays, starting with National Cocoa Day on December 13.
I met Katie, the founder of Hartley Social, at a blogger meet and greet she hosted in Lexington several months ago. Check out their insta for some beautiful content. After the meet and greet, Katie and I met and brainstormed ways we could work together and came up with shooting food videos making recipes with ingredients from Whole Foods in Lexington Green to celebrate upcoming food holidays. For National Cocoa Day, we thought it would be fun to make hot chocolate mixes that you can give as gifts. These cute jars make a great gift for your neighbors, coworkers, mailmen, grandma… and the list goes on. I made 12 jars this weekend to give to my aunts and uncles as well as my neighbors. All you have to do is tie a pretty ribbon and gift tag on the jar and you don’t even have to worry about gift wrapping!
These mixes are easy to assemble and customizable. I used a simple base of powdered milk, cocoa powder and sugar and then added in chocolate chips, candy canes etc. to create different flavors.
Hot Chocolate Base
- 1/4 cup powdered milk
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1/2 cup sugar
Layer your ingredients in a mason jar. Top with mix-ins depending on what flavor you desire. Here are the different variations I tried:
Classic Hot Chocolate
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Candy Cane Hot Chocolate
1/4 cup crushed candy canes
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
1/2 cup salted caramel chips or salted caramels
Hot Chocolate with a Kick
1 teaspoon cayenne powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Layer additional ingredients on top of base and then fill the jar with mini marshmallows. Did you know Whole Foods makes their marshmallows in-store at their bakery? Yum. Tie a cute lil ribbon around your jar and add a gift tag with instructions for making the hot chocolate (see below.)
Instructions
Remove marshmallows from jar and shake to combine ingredients. Heat 1 1/4 cup milk on the stove. Add 1/4 cup of hot chocolate mix and whisk until ingredients are melted. Serve with marshmallows and enjoy 🙂
And there you have it, a perfectly wrapped gift. Check out Lexington Green’s insta to see the video of how to assemble these jars!
Biscuits & Blessings,
Leels
Photo credits to Hartley Social
