Good friends, avert your eyes. Possible Christmas spoilers lie ahead.
Warm, cozy, chocolatey, minty spoilers.
This scrumptious homemade candy cane hot cocoa mix makes the perfect gift for everyone on your “nice” list. Dark chocolate adds depth, crushed candy canes give it a minty twist and the white chocolate rounds it all out. It comes together incredibly quickly with the help of a food processor. Then just fill a few plain pint-size mason jars, dress ’em up with a label, screw a circle of festive fabric onto the lid, and make friends and family happy and cozy.
Gift a jar with a big bundle of candy canes and maybe even a bottle of peppermint schnapps or Bailey’s Irish cream. ‘Tis the season!
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A few people have asked about the labels I used. I sort of cobbled them together. I started with the top left image from this great blank cards template from the wonderful joyeverafter.com. I then created my own custom label using that border in Photoshop, along with the Outlaw font, then printed them on plain Avery 2” H x 4” W labels and cut them out with scissors.Voila!
Honestly, if I’d been thinking farther ahead, I probably would have bought a batch of these from Paper Source and printed on them – much easier.

Homemade Candy Cane Hot Cocoa Mix
Ingredients
- 5 cups Dutch process cocoa powder
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 4 3.5-ounce dark chocolate bars (I use Lindt 90% cacao midnight dark chocolate)
- 4 3.5 ounce white chocolate bars (I used Lindt white chocolate bars)
- 15-20 candy canes
Instructions
- Put the chocolate bars in the freezer for about 10 minutes. This will help you grind them in the food processor without the chocolate melting.
- In a very large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, sugar, cornstarch, and kosher salt.
- Break the dark chocolate and white chocolate bars into the food processor and pulse until the chocolate is ground into small crumb-size bits. Add to the cocoa powder mixture.
- Break the candy canes into pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse until they are ground. Add to the cocoa powder mixture and chocolate.
- Stir everything together, then add to the food processor in batches and grind until the mixture is a fine powder consistency.
- Add to mason jars and gift away!
- To make the cocoa, add two heaping tablespoons cocoa mix to one cup (8 ounces) warm milk and add a candy cane stir stick.
Great recipe. I like how you took the photos. Well done.
Thanks, Christine! Happy holidays!
lovely mix wonderful pictures
Where did you get theses nice labels from?
Love this, thanks for sharing! Where did you get your label from and where did you print these at?
Hi Dusty and Jess! I added details about the label the post (right above the recipe). Essentially I pieced them together from a few different sources, which I explain in the details, then I printed them on our home printer.
Thanks for asking!
Kare, thank you so much for this information!!!!
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Hot Cocoa is a perfect holiday indulgence and we love the addition of the candy cane! Really great gift!
Yes! I have been looking for a good peppermint hot cocoa recipe. Thank you thank you thank you! This is perfect. Very easy and sounds delicious 🙂
How many jars will this recipe make?
Thanks!
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I cannot wait to try this! Thank you!
Can you use round peppermint candies instead of candy canes¿ Then crush them up in food processor.
Could you water instead of milk?
Thanks
Sheri
Yes on the candies but no on the milk. I have seen recipes that incorporate powdered milk so that you can use water; might experiment with that! 🙂
made this recipe. it was the best homemade hot chocolate i ever made. plan to make a big batch and put in jars for Christmas gifts this year.
Thanks so much! I hope this hot cocoa mix was a big hit as gifts! 🙂
What is corn starch added?