Looking for Crafty Christmas Presents? Try a Warm Hug in a Bag!
This delicious gingerbread hot chocolate makes perfect crafty Christmas presents!
It's a lot of fun to make crafty Christmas presents, and it's even more fun to get them. Unfortunately, the Christmas season takes its toll, and a lot of us don't have time to make all the crafty Christmas presents we'd like to. This gingerbread hot chocolate is a great antidote to that problem! It's fast, easy, and inexpensive. Best of all, you can make a whole bunch of crafty Christmas presents in a single sitting -- and presents everyone's guaranteed to love!
Materials
-Freezer/ sandwich bags (NOT ziplock-types) or Christmas-themed cellophane bags
-Squares of stiff paper
-Hole punch
-Markers
-Cocoa and sugar
-Cinnamon
-Nutmeg
-Ground cloves
-Ginger
-Ribbon
Make It!
These crafty Christmas presents lend themselves to bulk production, so set up an assembly line and make a dozen!
In a sandwich or cellophane bag, combine 1/3 cup cocoa with 2/3 cup sugar (you can reduce the sugar to cocoa ratio slightly, but not too much!). Add :
-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
-1/4 tsp. nutmeg
-1/8 tsp. ginger
-1/8 tsp. cloves
Shake the mixture in the bag until well blended and seal it with a twist tie.
On a small square card, write:
Gingerbread Hot Chocolate
Mix 2 tbsp with 1 cup hot milk. Enjoy!
Decorate the card as you see fit. To put the finishing touches on these crafty Christmas presents, punch a hole in the card, put the end of the ribbon through it, and tie the ribbon in a pretty bow around the neck of the bag.
Other Ideas
-If you're making a lot of these and you're worried about money, you can use pre made hot chocolate mix in place of cocoa and sugar. Just substitute 2/3 cup of hot chocolate mix for the cocoa/sugar combination.
-If you have diabetic friends, or friends who are watching their sugar intake, feel free to substitute splenda for the sugar. DO NOT use aspartame -- the taste does not work well in cocoa.
-If you buy small freezer bags, they often come with "tags" meant for labeling. These are the perfect size to contain your small hot chocolate "recipe."
-Christmas bake sale in the works? This hot chocolate doesn't just make crafty Christmas presents -- it's great for whipping up a pile of bake sale products without ever turning on the oven!