Every holiday season brings the same struggle: what to give to all of the family’s relatives, friends and co-workers for Christmas that will be unique, can be useful to or enjoyed by the recipient, and won’t go over the family’s gift budget?
Last year, we gave out over 100 bags of Chocolate Chip Cookies which my daughter and I baked and packed as our gifts. Thankfully, I know a baking supplies store nearby so I was able to save considerably on ingredients.
This year, while surfing through Pinterest, I discovered a new gift idea: Hot Chocolate on a Stick!
The recipe below is further simplified from the one I found on Pinterest, but still quite yummy! Best of all, ingredients and tools are easy and cheap to come by, thanks the nearby baking supplies store.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 tsp peppermint oit
- 15 large marshmallows
- additional milk chocolate chips and candy sprinkles as garnish
You will also need:
- Coffee stirrers or plastic straws to serve as sticks
- Individual plastic wrappers
- Gift ribbons
- Gift labels
Procedure:
- Melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave. (Medium high power for 30 secs and High power for 15 secs; resulting melted chocolate should be thick and have a nice sheen)
- Mix in the the peppermint oil.
- Pour the mixture into 2 tbsp chocolate molds (I used a small ice cream scoop to measure out and pour the mixture into small puto molds)
- Spear each marshmallow with a plastic straw then placed it in the middle of each mold
- Place in the refrigerator for 5 hours or until set.
I wrapped these with individual food-grade plastic wrappers decorated with red satin ribbons. I included a tbsp of milk chocolate chips and 1/8tbsp of candy sprinkles per package as garnishes. The label should indicate that the hot chocolate on a stick should be stirred into a cup of hot milk until the chocolate is melted.
This recipe yields 15 sticks.
Jellybeans in the City 