Great idea for a gift! But I think you should develop your own. I have several cocoa powders because they're all so different in intensity, flavor and fat content. I'd do the same recipe as for regular cocoa with that particular cocoa powder, and either just do the dry and let people add the milk, or just add the right amount of milk powder. Maybe process in the FP to make all the particles small, well mixed and uniform. Quik is mostly just cocoa, sugar and stabilizers, with some salt and spices. Spices, if you like them, is where your custom mix can really distinguish itself.

Seconds before reading this my MIL texted that my local farm’s mix was voted the best. Again - last time was by Martha Stewart. I’m gonna have to pick up a jar and try it. If the ingredients list looks to be of value I’ll share it. (I didn’t offhand see it on their site.)

https://www.purewow.com/food/best-hot-chocolate-mix

That was a very interesting link foas! I hope you will report back, I wish Kerber had listed the ingredients on their site too.

I usually have a variety of cocoas too, mainly because I'm always trying new things. Navitas is very good and I'm about to break open the Cocoa Berry.

second to what plllog said about the quality of the chocolate. In my experience, the Valrhona is the best for hot chocolate. Whole Foods carries it already ground, although you may have to ask at the cheese counter for them to open a bag out back, and serve up how much you need.

Other tips are to use the whole milk powder by Nido for a richer cup, and real cane powdered sugar. Sadly, I'm not making it this year due to shopping limitations, and no one in the house!

Usually, I have a whole hot chocolate station in our New England winter kitchen. I put a gallon of the mix into a glass canister (with a scoop), situated next to a tray of cups, spoons, and the instant electric water kettle. So quick and easy, and the cute jar of marshmallows is popular, too. Well, next year....

Bumblebeez - I’ll pick some up later. Funny, they’re just a mile down the road (1.1 per google) and I‘d never been in there until a year or so ago. Kinda cute, you can mingle with farm animals while you wait for your breakfast. Coincidentally I referenced them last night on Annie’s “neighbors” thread; a neighbor gave us an incredible apple pie from there, for Thanksgiving. Didn’t realize until going on their site that they operate a B&B. Or that they sell nationally. Learn something new about my back yard every day! Anyway yes, I’ll report back.

Ingredients are dark chocolate, cocoa, sugar, salt. The ingredients are individually recognizable in the mix, from the mini chips to the sugar crystals:

Very yum!

So you mix it with hot milk?

Yes, requires milk.

I was hoping to find something that had "milk" in it.

Linda, there's nothing magic about dry milk powder, though, like the other ingredients, there are different qualities. I have Organic Valley, I think, because it was an easy pick from the store. There are “dehydrated” and freeze dried, etc. There was one recommendation up thread. You can also enrich by adding a little extra to the amount per water it says on the label. Mix until you like the flavor.

Chocolate chips seem to be the new style. Probably to make it more chocolaty. You don't need to do that if you use Valrhona or similar premium cocoa powder, and chips will settle in a mix.

This recipe is from Bon Appetite. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/bas-best-hot-chocolate (My father made hot cocoa with Droste cocoa, only and to a particular taste, so I'm not offering my family recipe.)

3 tablespoons cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-processed), plus more for serving

3 cups whole milk

6 ounces semisweet chocolate (preferably Scharffen Berger), finely chopped

3 tablespoons demerara or granulated sugar

Just substitute milk powder for the milk, and add an extra half a spoonful,

My version: open jar of Nutella. Spoon Nutella into mug. Lots of Nutella. More than that. A little more. Okay. Fill rest of mug with boiling water. Stir to dissolve Nutella. Sample. Add more Nutella. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

According to my friend, a native New Zealander, there's NOTHING like powdered milk from New Zealand. She and her husband live aboard their boat and are about to undertake a sail to Mexico and South America. She's added this powdered milk to their provisions. I'll ask her about the brand and where to find it. Meanwhile I found this:

Hot Cocoa Mix

1 cup Judee's Gluten Free Whole Milk Powder

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

Combine or whisk ingredients together.

Tip: For extra creaminess and rich flavor add 2 Tbsp Judee's Gluten Free Butter Powder

To Prepare Hot Chocolate:

Combine 6 Tbsp dry mix and 8oz hot water. Stir until completely dissolved.

This thread is so bizarre to me, but I understand exactly what LindaC wants, a tried and true recipe for about half a gallon that uses cocoa, sugar ( the type can vary), milk powder and .....chocolate chips? Cinnamon?

Thanks, Bumblebeez, I was only thinking that scaling would work best putting it though the food processor, not understanding that it was an already scaled recipe that was wanted.

I read somewhere that the best hot chocolate recipe mix was Alton Brown's. I was going to try making up a batch after I use up the box of Nestle Carnation Chocolate mix.

I’ve been told that the brand of powdered milk is Anchor and it’s available on Amazon.

Johnliu - I’ll file that under “don’t knock it until you try it.” For me, Nutella is best enjoyed on a spoon.

Butter powder?!...who knew? What's in it...that may provide the richness without the powdered creamer.

I wonder how much espresso powder to add....if I wanted to add that.

For chocolate cake, for enhancement, it's a teaspoon of espresso powder to 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder. Or you could add more for mocha.