This weekend was our annual Breakfast with Santa. A fun event we host for some of our neighbors.
You can read more about how this tradition started over at Your Homebased Parties.
Our menu for the party is the same every year – pancakes, little sausages, fruit, juice and hot chocolate.
Each year everyone raves about my hot chocolate. It’s an old family recipe! Not really, in fact it isn’t even a recipe it’s only a secret ingredient.
Believe it or not I use good old Nestle’s Hot Chocolate mix. The trick is to be sure and use whole milk – no skim milk, no 2% – only whole milk! The other secret ingredient is vanilla. To one gallon of milk I add a couple of teaspoons of vanilla. The combination of the the whole milk and vanilla create a rich and creamy hot chocolate that everyone loves and it’s easy!!
We always have lots of whip cream to go with the hot chocolate. No limits – you can have as much as you want.
This year I decided to take it up a few notches after seeing Real Mom Kitchen’s post on Hot Cocoa and I put together a hot chocolate bar for the party. It was a huge hit with kids and adults!
We had lots of fun mix ins and toppings. We had candy canes dipped in white chocolate with white sprinkles to use as stirrers.
And then there were red, green and chocolate sprinkles! I crushed up malted milk balls, peanut butter cups and Heath bar for yummy mix ins too! And of course there were mini M & M’s.
What hot chocolate bar would be complete without whip cream – lots of whip cream. There was also chocolate syrup, vanilla sugar and some Pirouette -rolled wafer cookies to dip and stir with.
And of course there were lots of marshmallows – mini and holiday shaped!
The kids, big and little had lots of fun putting together their hot chocolate creations! We’re leaving the hot chocolate bar up for a few days. We’re going caroling tonight with friends and will come back afterwards for more hot chocolate fun!
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Tamara
December 21, 2009 at 6:55 amFun, fun, fun. Goodness, I’ve missed this blog. After last week, I must have been kicked off. Tried signing up again, but have not been successful. Now, I need to remember to check in each day. Any hints? I hope this has not happened to the rest of the subscribers. Thanks for this fun idea!
Laura
December 21, 2009 at 8:55 amLooks like it turned out great! I love the chocolate dipped candy canes!
Vicki
December 21, 2009 at 9:24 amLOVE the candy cane idea for stirrers – very festive!! Mmmmm, Heath bars in hot chocolate – something so easy but I bet tastes soooo divine!! What a great & fun idea!
Elizabeth S.
December 21, 2009 at 9:32 amThis looks so festive. I love your snowflake tablecloth, do you remember where you got it? I am on my way to HomeGoods for the first time. Woo hoo!
Leigh Anne
December 21, 2009 at 9:34 amElizabeth – the tablecloth came from Target. Just picked it up last week. Have fun at HomeGoods!
Stephanie Rodriguez
December 21, 2009 at 10:09 amYou always have the best ideas. I agree those white chocolate dipped candy canes look great.
Joan Callaway
December 21, 2009 at 11:19 amFun! I love the way you plan everything down to the last detail.
I should tell you that I’ve made up Chai Concentrate for a quick gift for several tea-drinking friends, but then tried it with one of the Nestles hot chocolate packets, a bit of instant espresso and a spoonful of the Chai Concentrate…and on, my goodness, if you had it just once, you’d want to add that to your hot chocolate bar!! I thought I’d just had the very best dessert ever – a somewhat spicy mocha latte! Divine! To stir it with a chocolate covered candy cane and with whipped cream – gilding the lily, but oh, YES!
Lisa Hemstreet
December 21, 2009 at 3:23 pmHi Leigh Anne….your photos are gorgeous!!! What lens are you using? I can tell you aren’t using a flash and the lighting is incredible. Can you share your camera and lens details? Thank you so much!!!
Leigh Anne
December 21, 2009 at 3:44 pmLisa,
Thanks! My camera is a basic Nikkon D40x and my lens is the one that came on it – 18-55mm. Glad you liked the photos!
You are right – I don’t use a flash.
Kara
December 21, 2009 at 4:16 pmThat looks like such a fun (and yummy) idea! Your table looks just beautiful!!!
Stephanie Fry
December 22, 2009 at 1:11 amSo yummy-looking and so pretty! I especially love the photos with the Christmas tree as a backdrop. Thanks for sharing all of your ideas and recipes.
Heidi
December 22, 2009 at 6:00 pmWow, what a great idea!! I think I’m going to borrow it for our Christmas Eve brunch~
Heidi Marie Kendall
December 22, 2009 at 7:28 pmLeighAnn – how do you keep your cocoa hot?? Do you just keep it on the stove? I just put together a last minute Hot Chocolate Bar with Santa on Thursday morning and got to wondering how I was going to keep it good and piping hot! Any help would be great (: Thanks again!
Leigh Anne
December 22, 2009 at 7:38 pmI did have a big pot on the stove and then I filled a couple of tea pots which kept it hot. A crockpot would also work great.
EnJOY!
Heidi Marie Kendall
December 27, 2009 at 7:49 pmI used a crockpot and it worked wonderfully! Thanks again for the great idea (: We had so much fun!
Danee
December 30, 2009 at 10:37 amLeigh Anne, I am wondering how you do it? How do you take such a classic – Hot Chocolate – and turn it into something absolutely divine??? My kids LOVE hot cocoa and I decided to try this recipe out for Christmas morning. Super. Super. Super. It was almost like drinking warm chocolate pudding. I do not know if we can ever go back to the “just add water and dump a packet of mix in” I knew that your recipe would not fail me. They never have! Enjoy your blogging break.
Kristen
December 14, 2010 at 5:20 pmThanks for sharing! This was exactly the kind of idea I was looking for! Where did you find that Christmas teapot?
Leigh Anne
December 14, 2010 at 6:10 pmI’ve had that teapot for a while now but I think it may have come from HomeGoods – that’s where I buy most of my dishes/serving pieces.
Annie
December 7, 2012 at 7:22 amThis looks wonderful! I am doing a hot chocolate bar for my daughter’s birthday. For roughly 24 people. How many does this serve, and can I do it in the crock pot?
Leigh Anne
December 7, 2012 at 7:37 amYou can totally do your hot chocolate in the crock pot. Depending on the size of the cup you are using I would plan on two cups of hot chocolate per person.
Sara
December 8, 2015 at 6:27 pmI’m sorry but I missed the recipe for the hot cocoa…so one gallon of milk per how many cups of mix? And how many does this serve?
Leigh Anne
December 9, 2015 at 7:26 amSara, I just follow the directions on the side of the hot chocolate mix I use as far as milk to mix ratio. Servings depends on what size cups you are using.