Chai-Spiced Hot Cocoa Mix

This time of year always has me thinking about my dad.  Losing him when I was so young always makes me wish he could have seen me do various things, like graduating, getting my first job, or "digging ditches" as my grandmother kindly referred to my job as an archaeologist.  Actually, today is his birthday and he would have been 67.  But, considering all that has gone on in the world lately, I don't want to make this a sad post.  Instead, I'll share some hot cocoa with you and encourage you to spend time with the ones you love, cherishing every minute of it and soaking it up while you can.

This was actually the first time I made my own cocoa mix.  Whenever the mood strikes for cocoa (which isn't too often), I typically just throw a few things in a pot until it tastes right.  But, the mix takes the guess work away and lets you have spiced cocoa bliss in a matter of minutes.  It isn't too sweet (which I like), and the spices make it so much better than regular cocoa.  If you've been reading the blog for a while, you'll notice I'm pretty fond of chai spices, so it should be no shock that I added them to the cocoa.  If you don't like them, simply leave them out.  If you are still looking for gift inspiration, make up a batch of the mix, package it in a pretty jar, and give it away with homemade (or store bought) marshmallows.    

Chai Spiced Hot Cocoa Mix
I had some vanilla sugar leftover from the cardamom vanilla snickerdoodles, so that's what I used in the mix, but feel free to swap it out for natural cane sugar, sucanat, etc.

1/2 cup vanilla sugar (or a bit more if you like it sweeter)

1 cup powdered soy or rice milk

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Dagoba fair trade natural cocoa powder)

1 1/2  tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom

1 tsp ginger

big pinch of black pepper

Combine all of the ingredients and whisk together until combined.  Sift the mixture to smooth out any large lumps before packaging.  Makes about 2 cups of hot cocoa mix, or 8 servings.  

To make cocoa, simply add 4 tbsp of the mix to 8 oz of boiling water and stir (or whisk) until smooth.

**in case you are wondering why my cocoa mix isn't a darker brown, it's because the cocoa I used is a natural cocoa as opposed to a Dutch-process cocoa