Homemade Hot Chocolate

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Its about that time of year again to break out the Hot Chocolate. (except in my house its a year round thing!) I think my husband is a connoisseur of hot chocolate, its his "coffee" in the morning.... with LOTS of marshmallows!!!!  Mmmm Ooey Gooey melted Marshmallows in some Hot Chocolate!   He loves Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate, and nothing else will do. ¯\(°_o)/¯  I buy the 30 pack from Walmart because I have to use two packets at a time (he's so darn picky lol) and if I change something up (¬_¬)  believe me he knows!!! (ಠ_ಠ) Just ask the kids ... hehehe

I thought I'd try to make some homemade Hot Chocolate and told him I was thinking about it, and he said "Just make a small batch to see if I like it." I showed him all of the ingredients and he said "Oh, go a head and make a whole batch, that kinda looks good" LOL!! I need to make those homemade marshmallows to, but he goes through them so fast! Probably not worth it. Plus there is a certain brand he likes too (told you he's picky) at least it's a store brand. The way he goes through hot chocolate, this might be a treat a few times a year.

This is very rich!! And if you like milk chocolate, then you might not like this, as its more of a dark chocolate flavor. I think next time I will look for a different cocoa.... 

This recipe makes about 20 servings

Here is what you need

3 Cups Non Fat Dry Milk
2 Cups Powdered Sugar (I'm sure you could use regular sugar also)
1 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 Cup White Chocolate Chips
1/4 Cup Salt


In a large bowl make a mess stir ingredients, to combine. 

Stir....

Pour half of the mixture into the bowl of a food processor and process until the white chocolate is finely ground. 

Transfer mix to an airtight container, then repeat with the remaining. (I have a mini processor so I had to split it up more) Store in the airtight container for up to 3 months.

To make the hot chocolate, mix 1/3 cup of the cocoa mix with 1 cup hot milk, or water, which ever you prefer. I tried half milk, half water and it wasn't very good. I think all milk was the best!

Try to stay warm....

Single Serving Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Mug

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Do you ever get a sweet tooth late in the evening and there NEVER seems to be anything that  satisfy's it?  Or its way to late to go out?!  Well I have something....I had a request awhile ago in My Survey to do a Mug Cake, and I was looking around for a good recipe and found this recipe from Melissa at no.2 pencil... I know its not a cake, but...
I will still do a mug cake but I had to do this first :) this is a single serving cookie made in a custard cup. (or  a coffee mug, or a ramekin) Its fresh and it can be made in a matter of minutes! Don't ya just love that!!??
I saw a bunch of recipes floating around on Pinterest but I wanted to give something different a  try.... and this was it!

This has the potential to be really bad... because its THAT good!  I'd better not keep all the ingredients in the house, or they will have to roll me out the door come spring time  (-’_'-)

Mine took all of 60 seconds to cook, the bottom layer reminded me of  Subway's Chocolate Chip Cookies....yum!
Set your microwave for 40 seconds and go from there, I checked every 10 seconds after that.

This is what you need


1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon Granulated White Sugar
1 Tablespoon of firmly packed Dark Brown Sugar
3 Drops of Vanilla Extract (this is really hard! be careful)
Small Pinch of Kosher Salt (or regular table salt)
1 Egg Yolk (I gave my egg white to the dogs, they ♥ me)  ツ  
Just under 1/4 Cup of All Purpose Flour
1/8 Cup Tablespoons of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips (I used mini's)



Melt tablespoon of butter in microwave (not shown)
Stir in  Sugar, Brown Sugar, Vanilla,and Salt.
Stir... Add Egg yolk, stir

Add  Flour

 and Stir some more... 

Add the Chocolate Chips...

Stir...

Transfer it to the cup your cooking it in. (I wasn't sure it would fit in the custard cup or I would have mixed it in there.)
Put it in your microwave for 40 seconds and check for doneness every 10 seconds after that.

60 Seconds, Ding..all done! Let it cool a minute if you can  ¯\(°_o)/¯

A picture is worth a thousand words...had to put the dreamy softness ↓ effect around it hehehe 

MMMMmmmm warm and gooey

Nom, nom, nom


What are you waiting for?  Only takes a few min....

Making a Paper Peony (Tutorial)

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These are so pretty! I came across Michella Marie's tutorial and I had to try it!!  I couldn't wait to run out and get the wire and floral tape! Everything else, I had on hand. :) 
They were fun to make and it was quick and easy with a satisfying end result!!
I dyed the first ones pink, with the pink neon gel food coloring. I really didn't care for those, they didn't look very realistic to me, but I used those pictures in the tutorial anyways.
Since purple is my favorite color, I think I'll do a few in purple just to see if they turn out.  ¯\(°_o)/¯  If they look good I'll post a few pictures...

Also next time I'm going to cut the "petals" a little different (wavy) to see how that looks. :)

Each flower took about 10-15 minutes to make, total!
I think the longest part was waiting for the pink ones to dry!

What you need:

Coffee Filters (I used 6 filters for each flower, 3 small ones that I cut, and 3 normal size) you can use more filters if you want a fuller flower :)
Floral Wire (I used 18 inch 18 gage)
Floral Tape
Glue (I used hot glue,but you can use any kind)
Scissors
Needle Nose Pliers
Food Color (optional)

 I used the 3 1/4 inch filters (6-12 cup size) for all of my petals, and cut  a 1/2 inch off  3 of them to make the "smaller" size. My end flower size was about as big as my hand, stretched out...give or take a little. You can use the larger paper filters (5 1/4 inch) but this is just what I had on hand, and what I use in my coffee maker.

For the 3, inner smaller filters, this is when I cut them down to the "smaller" size.

be careful not to cut yourself on this step!

Making the Flower...
Start out by cutting your wire to length, I cut mine to 6 inches, then using  your needle nose pliers, curl one end of wire.

Poke a hole in the center of your 1st filter.

Slide the wire down to the loop.

 add a drop of glue.

Pinch and twist the base.

Add a drop of glue at the base (not shown) and continue adding your small filters.

When you have added all the small filters, wrap the base with some floral tape, before you start on the larger filters.

You don't have to wrap the whole wire at this time, just the base, for now

Add another drop of glue (not shown) and begin with the larger filters and repeat with the drop of glue between each filter, until you have added them all. After adding your last filter, using the floral tape, wrap the base, and continue down the whole wire.

All done :)

Make some more...

All White

White with random pink spots

Add pink spots

White with pink center with dark pink spots

Love These!!

This was fun, Thanks Michella! Cant wait to make more....
Let me know how yours turn out!