Hot Chocolate On a Stick?!?!

So I came across a blog called Givers Log that had an amazing recipe for hot chocolate on a stick! I know what your thinking- how in the world does that work??  I thought the same thing. I let my curiosity get the best of me and I just had to check it out.   The basic idea is to melt baking chocolate then add cocoa, powered sugar, and a pinch of salt, put it in a mold, add a stick and boom- hot chocolate on a stick! Ok, so it's a little more involved than just adding things together but it didn't seem *that* hard to make!

AmberLee, the author of Givers Log , does an amazing tutorial on how its made and even has great tips for picking the right chocolate! After reading over her post several times, I headed off to HEB (the best grocery store ever) to find baking chocolate. It was completely overwhelming to pick the right chocolate so I just went with the Ghirardelli baking chocolate. I knew it would be good and HEB had it on sale, how could I say no?? Now it was time to have some fun :)
 

I had everything I needed....
8oz baking chocolate (I used both milk and semi sweet chocolate)
1/4 cup cocoa (regular and special dark depending on what I felt like for that batch)
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
Pinch of salt (I think I forgot to add this to a few batches... oops!) 
Ice cube tray (thanks Target $1 spot)
Candy sticks
Marshmellows
and sprinkles


Now the fun could begins! I sifted the coco, powered sugar and salt (if I remembered) together and set aside.



Then I broke up the chocolate (to help it melt faster) and melted it on a double boiler.













 Starting to melt :)







Once it was all melted I added the coco/powdered sugar mix.
After reading quite a few of the tips at the bottom of the blog I figured out a few things:

1. If I put the bowl back on the double boiler for a few seconds it helped everything mix easier (being careful to not over heat & scorch the chocolate).
2.  I didn't want to find out exactly what happened if water got into the mix so I heeded the "keep water out" warning.
3. When AmberLee says it gets thick like frosting she wasn't kidding!

 Now it's all mixed up and ready to be molded!!
 I tried using her zip lock bag method and made a huge mess :( So I opted for plan b:  use spoon to put the chocolate in the tray. It was still a little messy so there are no pictures of that part.









Once the cubes were filled (1 batch makes 10-12 cubes) I tapped the tray on the counter to make sure there weren't any air bubbles. Then I added the sticks and some marshmallows and put them in the freezer to set.  I was a little over eager and didn't realize how long they would take to set.  I had some trouble getting the chocolate out of the mold :( I messed a few up and had to reshape and put them back in the freezer. Once I decided I would be patient and let them fully harden they popped right out like ice cubes. YAY!

 I wasn't quite ready to bag them up so I made a makeshift holder- empty egg carton turned upside down with holes poked in it. Genius, I know ;)

After making at least 5 batches I was finally done and was ready to wrap them up.

All bagged and ready for ribbon!

So much fun to make!

I was kind of proud of myself with this packaging. I had decided to sub out the powered sugar for powered peppermint mocha creamer (I used the milk chocolate bars for these so it would be sweet enough)  in one of the batches. Not to brag but it was really good! I wanted to distinguish the peppermint mocha ones from the others so I added a mini candy cane to the bag. I also added a tag that said to mix each cube with 3/4 to 1cup of hot milk, cream or water.
When I made a cup for me I used a milk/cream mix :D
I didn't try all the recipe variations before I gave them away so I'm hoping they were good... Next time I'm going to try different flavored creamers and see how they turn out. I can't wait!