Wintry bevs & a little update

Hello everyone. It’s been a seemingly long time since we’ve update the ol’ bloggy (a terrifying whole 6 days, actually). But don’t worry, we’re alive. We’re still going strong.
I have recently just joined the bandwagon of “employed” people, thus creating less time for me to do important things (like BLOG, duh). My prestigious and highly-sought-after job at CGCC is the “Temporary-Part-time-Assistant to the Program Advisor”.
Yep.
It’s a pretty big deal.

(Actually, I just make fliers and copies all day).

ANYWAY, I thought I share some pictures from a little DIY beverage project I made for my family this year: Homemade Peppermint Hot Chocolate and Homemade Vanilla Chai!

Both of these drinks are super fun & easy to make – and it’s WAY cheaper than buying it in store. I packaged them up to make cute Christmas gifts. BUT, you could always just make it for yourself to drink for these last months of cold winter.

Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of the chai being made, but I promise it looks almost the same as the hot chocolate! I adapted these recipes from two different sites (here and here, respectively), but I tweaked them to make them more awesome:

Peppermint Hot Cocoa

3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup malted milk
1½ cups cocoa powder, dutch-process or natural
1½ cups white chocolate chips, finely ground
¼ teaspoon salt
1/2 cup candy canes, broken into small pieces
Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl. You can pulse the ingredients in a food processor or heavy duty blender (or, just grind the chocolate and add it to the bowl, like I did) until it is finely ground.

Homemade Vanilla Chai Mix

1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1 cup French vanilla powdered non-dairy creamer
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup malted milk
1 ½ cups unsweetened instant tea
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until it is a fine powder. Or, just mix these ingredients in a bowl really, really well.

Make sure you give these drinks a “test drive” before you hand them out! You can tweak whatever you want (more spice, more cocoa, less sugar) to suit your preferences. AND, you can store the dry mix in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

To drink either the hot cocoa or chai, add 1/3 cup into a mug and add either 1 cup of hot water or milk. I prefer milk…. and half & half. With marshmallows…. or whip cream. Hah.
I promise, they’re delicious!

About these ads