Hot Cocoa

One of Dan's few words is Cocoa. He also says Ice Cream, Taste, and Tasty. He doesn't say Mommy, though.

We are big fans of hot cocoa, and we've discovered you can make fancy gourmet cocoas at home, with the cheapest hot cocoa mix. No more expensive cocoa mixes! Here's what we do:

Make cocoa (follow the instructions and make sure you put in enough chocolate powder....). Then add:

a teaspoon of raspberry jam, or a pinch of raspberry jello powder
or
a teaspoon of peanut butter
or
any mint-flavored candy (candycanes, junior mints, dinner mints, etc)
or
a spoonful of cool whip and a dash of cinnamon
or
a spoonful of any flavor of ice cream you like (moosetracks is especially good...)
or
a chunk of any flavor of candybar (butterfingers are good....)
or
anything else that dissolves in hot liquid and complements the chocolate flavor.

For the gourmet non-cocoas, you can mix just a teaspoon or two of any flavor of instant pudding mix into hot milk (use a small whisk or fork, or it gets clumpy). For hot "wassail", use orange koolaid (the church's brand is best....but you can't buy it) with a pinch of cinnamon and a tiny pinch of cloves in it, then heat it.