Healthier Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

I have been hard pressed the last few years to find a homemade hot cocoa mix that was both yummy AND free of hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated creamer, lots of additives and loads of sugar. Oh, and I want to be able to just scoop out mix, pour hot water, stir and drink. I don't want to bother with heating milk on busy school mornings.

I recently stumbled upon this solution and thought I would share it with you.


Healthier Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

You will need:

1 16 oz can of Ghirardelli Premium Hot Cocoa (I used Chocolate Mocha)
1 9.6 oz box of Carnation Instant Nonfat Dry Milk

A container in which all of the above will fit. (I used an empty 54 oz. Nutiva Coconut Oil container.)

I find it quite convenient that both the cocoa and the dry milk contain 12 servings. :)
Dump the cocoa and the dry milk into your empty container, put the lid on securely, and hand to a child to shake as they jump on the mini trampoline.

Use a heaping 1/3 cup per mug of hot water(exact measurement would be 1/3 cup plus 4 TBSP).

Now you have a fairly healthy hot cocoa mix--just add hot water!

Enjoy!

According to my calculations with the nutrition facts, each serving contains:
Calories:210
Calories from fat: 15
Total fat: 1.5g
  Saturated fat: 1g
  Cholesterol: 5 g
Sodium: 185mg
Total Carbohydrate: 45g
  Dietary Fiber: 2g
  Sugars: 40g
Protein: 10g

I would be willing to bet you could do something similar with dry whole milk or alternative powdered milk mixes but I have not tried that yet and of course, the nutrition facts would be different.

If you want a little bit more of a "creamy" drink, you could add a smidge of half and half. But I'd be willing to bet you probably won't feel the need with this mix.

I think this would be good to give as a gift---simply package up in (decorated?) jars with a nifty handwritten card with instructions.