Homemade Peppermint Hot Chocolate Gifts

This is another Christmas post, but it makes a good gift for any wintery occasion. Enjoy, and please excuse the bad pictures. Of course I did this late at night the day before I needed to have everything done.

Do you enjoy giving or receiving food gifts at Christmas time? How about trying this easy and yummy Peppermint Hot Cocoa recipe! It's an easy and inexpensive project. And with a little creativity, you can make it cute too!

Here's the basic recipe:

6 candy canes, crushed

2 cups powdered non-dairy creamer

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

Mix all these ingredients together and wah-lah! You're done with the food prep step of this project. A few tips: I unwrap my candy canes and crush them up in a freezer bag with a mallet, but if you have a food processor, this might work too. Also, one recipe makes about a jar and half's worth of cocoa mix.

Now, for making our jars pretty! Type up some simple instructions, print them off, and cut them out.

Next, scrounge up some leftover bits of wrapping paper. Cut into rectangle that are a little larger than the piece of paper that have the recipe. Use your hot glue gun, and run a thin line of glue along the edge of each side on the underside of the recipe paper, and place on top of your pieces of wrapping paper. Now you have some cute labels for your jars!

Now, you will need several clean canning jars, or if you want to be really frugal and do a little recycling too, save your used spaghetti jars, wash them thoroughly, and use Goo Gone to get rid of any residual glue from the manufacturer label.

Make sure your label fits on your jar.

Now, holding the label in place, let one side hang open and run a thin line of glue along the edge. Press it into place firmly, as the coolness of the glass jar will dry the glue quickly.

Do the same on the other side of your label, and you have a cute jar, ready to be filled with cocoa!

Now it's time to make those lids a little prettier! I don't have pictures of this step, but find a small well-ventilated area where you can use spray paint without creating a mess, lay out all your clean lids on a piece of cardboard, and spray with a can of glossy red spray paint. I got mine from Wally World for about $3. Use light thin coats of paint to cover the writing on the lids. You may need to do several coats, but it is better to do that than to use too much paint, as it will just run on the metal lids. Once your lids are finished being painted and are dry. Give them a light rinse in some soapy water and dry them off. Then screw onto the tops of your jars and you are finished!

I did about 18 of these jars in one late evening. They made great gifts for all my husband's co-workers, as well as the ladies who watch my daughter and help me with crafts at our MOPS group.

Mix three tablespoons of hot cocoa mix with hot water, or with hot coffee to make a Peppermint Mocha! If you want to get all fancy, top it all off with some real whipped cream and some Christmas sprinkles. Yum!