Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix
Nonfat dry milk, powdered sugar, Dutch-process cocoa and ground white chocolate, blitzed into a mix that keeps for months. One scoop in a mug of hot milk tastes like the packet you grew up with, only better.
The packet of cocoa mix is America's most common hot chocolate. Wikipedia says that in the US and Canada the drink is best known as a thin, very sweet packet mix made with hot water or milk, often topped with marshmallows or whipped cream. The best-known brand, Swiss Miss, was created by Charles Sanna; in the 1950s his family's company sold its cocoa in pre-measured packets for airlines and restaurants, and in 1961 it introduced what Wikipedia calls the first powdered hot cocoa mix that could be made with water instead of milk. Wikipedia cites the Wall Street Journal saying Sanna was looking for a use for surplus milk powder, and the brand was sold to Beatrice Foods in 1967. America's Test Kitchen set out to make a better mix at home and found that nonfat dry milk, powdered sugar and white chocolate were the keys.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Nonfat dry milk, powdered sugar, Dutch-process cocoa and ground white chocolate, blitzed into a mix that keeps for months. One scoop in a mug of hot milk tastes like the packet you grew up with, only better.
🇲🇽 The original
Mexico still drinks chocolate the old way: tablets of ground cacao, sugar and cinnamon melted into milk or water and whipped to a froth with a wooden molinillo. See the Mexican Hot Chocolate (Chocolate Mexicano) recipe.
📖 Myth check: Hot Chocolate vs Hot Cocoa: Is There a Difference? →
Why it works the kitchen science
Dry milk in the mix
Nonfat dry milk adds a sweet dairy flavor, especially when the mix goes into hot milk instead of water (ATK).
Powdered sugar and white chocolate
Powdered sugar dissolves fast and helps thicken the drink, and ground white chocolate melts in to give a creamy body and rounder chocolate flavor alongside the cocoa (ATK).
Step by step
- Step 1
Whisk the dry milk, powdered sugar, cocoa, white chocolate chips and salt together in a large bowl.
- Step 2
Working in two batches, pulse in a food processor, 10 to 15 one-second pulses per batch, until the white chocolate is ground fine and the mix looks even.
- Step 3
Transfer to an airtight jar. It keeps up to 3 months at room temperature.
- Step 4
For one mug: heat 1 cup whole milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until steaming, about 170°F, 3 to 4 minutes (or microwave 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, stopping before it bubbles over).
- Step 5
Whisk in 1/3 cup of the mix until dissolved and frothy, about 30 seconds.
- Step 6
Pour into a mug and top with mini marshmallows or whipped cream. Serve hot.
Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix
Serves 20 (1 mug each) · about 6 2/3 cups mix, enough for 20 mugs · 15 min total
Mix
- 3 cups (9 oz) nonfat dry milk powder
- 2 cups (8 oz) powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 cups (4 1/2 oz) Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups (9 oz) white chocolate chips
- 1/4 tsp salt
Per mug
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup mix
- Optional: mini marshmallows or whipped cream
Method
- Whisk the dry milk, powdered sugar, cocoa, white chocolate chips and salt together in a large bowl.
- Working in two batches, pulse in a food processor, 10 to 15 one-second pulses per batch, until the white chocolate is ground fine and the mix looks even.
- Transfer to an airtight jar. It keeps up to 3 months at room temperature.
- For one mug: heat 1 cup whole milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until steaming, about 170°F, 3 to 4 minutes (or microwave 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, stopping before it bubbles over).
- Whisk in 1/3 cup of the mix until dissolved and frothy, about 30 seconds.
- Pour into a mug and top with mini marshmallows or whipped cream. Serve hot.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen, "Best-Ever Hot Cocoa Mix" (published January 25, 2013; from Cook's Country, February/March 2007), serves 20. ATK says "hot milk"; we use whole milk, heated to about 170°F (our number), for the per-mug method and the calorie count. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Fill small jars, tie on a tag that says "1/3 cup mix + 1 cup hot milk", and it is a holiday gift.
- In a pinch it works with hot water, like the 1961 packets, but it is much better with milk.
- Want it darker? Add 1/4 cup more cocoa to the batch.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Swiss Miss invented instant cocoa. Disputed: Wikipedia credits Swiss Miss (1961) as the first powdered cocoa that worked with water, and says the company sold cocoa packets to airlines in the 1950s; other mixes, such as Nestlé's Quik, are listed on the same page with no dates.
- Mix made with water is the "real" packet way. Folklore: ATK found the mix tastes best with milk.
- Marshmallows are an American topping. Documented as a common US and Canadian habit (Wikipedia); we did not find a sourced date for when marshmallows first went into cocoa.
Every other hot chocolate
Mesoamerican-Style Cacao Drink with Chile and Annatto
Unsweetened chocolate melted into hot water with red annatto, ground chile, vanilla and a little honey, then poured from cup to cup until it wears a tall head of foam. A modern home version of the drink the Maya and Aztecs prized, not a reconstruction.
Mexican Hot Chocolate (Chocolate Mexicano)
Mexican tablet chocolate, already sweetened and spiced with cinnamon, melted into hot milk and beaten with a wooden molinillo until it foams.
Spanish Chocolate a la Taza (for Churros)
Dark chocolate melted into nearly boiling milk with a little cocoa, sugar and cornstarch, then stirred over low heat until it is thick enough to coat a churro. The Madrid way to start the day or end the night.
Italian Cioccolata Calda Densa
Milk whisked with cocoa and plenty of cornstarch, brought just to a simmer, then finished with melted dark chocolate until it is as thick as a loose pudding. You eat the last of it with a spoon.
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5-Minute Stovetop Cocoa for Two
Dutch-process cocoa and sugar whisked into a little water for one minute, then whole milk heated through on medium-high until steaming. Two real mugs of cocoa in the time it takes to find the packet.
Frozen Hot Chocolate, Inspired by Serendipity 3
Melted chocolate stirred with hot cocoa mix, sugar and milk, cooled, then blended with ice until it is thick like a frozen daiquiri and piled into a goblet under whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Inspired by, not official.
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