I, very similarly to
Miss Honey, decided to take a break from all things wedding, and I turned my attention to creating gifts for my coworkers. I wanted to gift them something homemade. I considered cookies among other baked goods, but quickly decided on hot cocoa mix since I already had the perfect containers: those extra
mason jars from my failed DIY.
I started by researching recipes and read great reviews on one from
Alton Brown on the Food Network. I noted the reviewers' suggestions and ended up with my revised recipe:
2 cups Dutch Cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
8 cups powdered sugar
5 cups whole powdered milk (I used Nido. [Found at Walmart in the Hispanic Foods section])
2 TBS salt
4 TBS cornstarch
1 bag mini marshmallows
I combined all of the ingredients (minus the marshmallows) in a large bowl and slowly stirred with a wooden spatula. (Be prepared to make a big mess!) I then spooned the mix into my jars. I filled them to about the curve of the jar and filled the rest of the jar with marshmallows. I attempted to create a parfait effect with the first jar and layer marshmallows, but it was unsuccessful. No matter how many marshmallows I put in the layer, the next layer of cocoa would nearly completely cover them. I found they looked best on top of the mix.
(FYI - my mix yielded over 4 full quarts.)
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| Evidence of my mess |
I wanted some sort of label on the jars, but did not have any labels around the house. I ended up printing round paper labels and it worked just fine.
To create them, I used Microsoft Publisher. First I created a 2 by 2 inch circle:
Then I searched for the perfect label background and cropped it to match the 2 by 2 in. circle. I inserted a rectangle in the center to create a background for my text and inserted a text box.
I grouped all of the elements together (photo circle, red band and text), copied and pasted until I had my desired amount of labels. Once printed, I cut out the circles and lightly glued them using Elmer's craft glue. (If I had planned better, I would have invested in Sticker Paper
like this to eliminate the glue.) Lastly I decorated with some ribbon and holiday tags from Walmart.
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| The final product |
I was so pleased with the end result, and I couldn't help but think that with a few tweaks, these would make the most adorable wedding favor! Obviously with a May wedding myself, hot cocoa wouldn't make much sense for us, but it would be so fitting for a winter affair. Switching to a half-pint or pint glass would certainly make the mix go farther and creating a wedding monogram lid label would be incredibly simple!
Are you creating homemade goodies as your wedding favor? Where did you find your inspiration?
All photos personal
