Holiday Gift Recipe: Flavored hot chocolate

For many years now, the only gifts that the adult siblings give to each other in my family and my husband's family are homemade or none at all.

Lucky for me, my sister is especially crafty and often gives amazing needlepoint ornaments and the like. Unlucky for everybody else, I am not crafty, but that doesn't keep me from trying. My older daughter and I work together to decide exactly what we'll make. It's usually food. This year, it's flavored hot chocolate.

My seven-year-old crushed the peppermint candies and measured out the mix and candy into holiday gift bags. My three-year-old topped it all with marshmallows until it became clear that more marshmallows would end up in her mouth than the actual treat bags.

Here's how we did it:

Yield: Three gift bags, four servings per bag

Measure out the equivalent of four servings of hot chocolate mix and put it in each bag. Crush about 10 small peppermint sticks (it was about 3/4 cup of crushed candy). Put 1/3 of the candy in each bag. Top with marshmallows.

Yield: Two gift bags, four servings per bag

Measure out the equivalent of four servings of hot chocolate mix and put it in each bag. Chop up a toffee chocolate bar (similar to a Heath Bar). We used a 3.52 ounce Milka Toffee Crunch bar. Put half of the chocolate in each bag. Top with marshmallows.

My older daughter wrote a recipe card that include the instructions for turning the mix into hot chocolate. Hopefully it will warm some chilly nights for our relatives, especially my sister's in Alaska!