The Magical Slow Cooker

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Hot Cocoa Gift Jars

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I created these adorable Hot Cocoa Gift Jars for Christmas gifts. Most everyone makes hot chocolate during the holiday season and I have so many people to buy gifts for anyway. I made a few extra for our family, so after shopping or on Christmas eve I can easily make a really delicious homemade hot cocoa.

I used half pint wide neck Kerr brand canning jars that I sanitized in the dishwasher. The only layer that takes some effort is the peppermint layer. For peppermint layer I put starlight candies in a large ziplock bag, and with a rolling-pin, crushed them.

For making the prepared jars of cocoa mix into hot cocoa, add the entire jar of prepared cocoa mix, and a 1/2 gallon of whole milk to a 5-quart or larger crock pot and cook on HIGH for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally. Or for the stove-top, cook on medium heat until melted and heated through.

This cocoa prepared is not overly sweet, it is just right. This makes about 8 servings of cocoa, I put the leftovers in the fridge and reheat in the microwave for the next night, still tastes great.

Hot Cocoa Gift Jars l The Magical Slow Cooker

Hot Cocoa Gift Jars l The Magical Slow Cooker

Hot Cocoa Gift Jars
 
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Recipe type: Gift
Serves: 8 servings
Ingredients
Per Jar (1/2 Pint Size Jar, I use Kerr wide neck)
  • Bottom layer- ¼ cup white sugar
  • Layer two- 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
  • Layer three- ¼ cup crushed peppermint candies (candy canes or starlight candies)
  • Layer four- ½ cup chocolate chips (1/4 cup white chips, ¼ cup semi-sweet chips mixed together)
For Serving
  • ½ gallon whole milk
Instructions
  1. Add the layers down evenly into a ½ pint wide neck canning jar. Place the lid on, and decorate if desired. Don't heap any of the measurements or you won't be able to get the lid on. Add a hand written label with instructions.
To prepare the hot chocolate:
  1. Crock Pot: In a 5-quart or larger slow cooker, add the contents of the gift jar and a ½ gallon whole milk. Stir, cover and cook on HIGH for about 1.5 hours until warm and everything is melted completely, stirring occasionally.
  2. Stove-top: In a large pot, add the contents of the gift jar and a ½ gallon of whole milk. Heat on medium-high heat until warm and everything is melted completely, stirring occasionally.

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  1. Jerry Walch says

    November 28, 2014 at 6:42 am

    You have gone a long way to solving one of my gifting problems, Sarah. With my son, daughter in-law, stepson, stepdaughter, and seven grandkids, all living in snowy upstate New York, I will be making and shipping them a case of these gift jars. I will also be making these for my friends here in the Springs.

    Reply

  11. Jennifer says

    December 4, 2014 at 8:23 pm

    It looks like more than 2 tbsp of the cocoa powder?? Or is it just layered around the edges to make it look like more?

    Reply

  13. Ellie says

    January 8, 2015 at 6:37 pm

    I love this idea! I plan on substituting the peppermint candies with purple melty mints and using these as wedding favors…since the mason jars seal so tight, there shouldn’t be a problem doing these a few weeks in advance, right?

    Reply

    • Sarah Olson says

      January 8, 2015 at 8:32 pm

      I did mine a few weeks in advance, the sugar and mints kind of stick together, but unpacks easily from the jars. If you are substituting the peppermint layer, do a test jar to make sure that layer will be sweet enough for the cocoa. 🙂

      Reply

  15. Amanda Stevens says

    December 19, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    This is a great recipe! We decided to make these for teacher and neighbor gifts but, I wanted to try it too to make sure we liked it. I’m happy to report, it’s delicious! I put a pot on while we were washing the jars and unwrapping the candy canes. I used the pressure cooker, instead of the crock pot and set it for 10 min. It was perfect! We made a dozen jars in about an hour (including washing jars and cooking/sampling the test pot). If you’re wondering how much to buy, we used 4 dozen candy canes, 1.5 bags of chocolate chips, 1 bag of white chocolate chips, less than one tub of cocoa powder and 3 cups of sugar. I just need to make labels and they’ll be ready to go.

    Reply

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