This tasty white hot chocolate mix looks beautiful layered in a glass storage jar… Perfect as a teacher gift, thank you gift, hostess gift, etc!
This post is in partnership with At Home. As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this site possible!
I think you all know by now that I'm not big on shopping. Actually, it's not that I don't like shopping itself -- I'm just not a fan of the chaos and crowds, especially this time of year. If I can order it online, 9 times out of 10, I'm going to do just that, even if it means going back and forth with returns a time or two.
But there's one store that gets me every time -- At Home. I could literally get lost in there. It's a bargain hunter's dream, with treasures to be found in every aisle!
There just so happens to be a store down the street from my kids' orthodontist. So while one of my boys was getting his braces removed last week (yay!), I figured I'd kill some time browsing. I knew I needed to pick up some mason jars for teacher gifts, so I figured I could knock those out while I was at it.
Copper Accents For A Steal
Though At Home has an entire aisle dedicated to jars, canisters, and store containers, I didn't find any mason jars. But I totally ended up finding something better... How gorgeous are these storage jars with their copper-colored lids?! Copper accents are such a hot trend right now, so when I spied one of these beauties on a random shelf, I may have squealed a little bit.
It took a good bit of digging, but I managed to find several more shoved way back behind some other storage jars on a low shelf. I three in my cart and left two behind for another treasure hunter -- although at $4.99 each, I really wanted all five!
Heavy Duty Cotton Dishtowels
On a whim, I also grabbed a 3-pack of these thick, heavy-duty cotton towels. The black and white stripes look very chic with the upscale jars, and I figure everyone can use an extra nice dishtowel to use when you have holiday company.
I almost made it out of the store with just these gift items, but I took a shortcut back to the checkout by way of the knick-knacks aisle. And that's when these cuties caught my eye...
Unglazed Ceramic Cacti
Aren't they the sweetest thing you ever saw? I couldn't help but add them to my cart -- they were totally calling my name! I've been thinking about picking up a real cactus for my office lately, but these adorable unglazed ceramic cacti will do until I decide to commit.
That is... if I can keep my girls' hands off of them. They've already been hinting around at home much better they would look in their room!
White Hot Chocolate Mix
Originally I was going to fill these jars up with the homemade hot chocolate mix I shared last year. But I thought a white hot chocolate mix would look so pretty with the copper lids, so that's what I went with. This mix is super simple to throw together, making this a quick and easy gift idea!
Decadent White Hot Chocolate Mix
Ingredients
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 (3.4-ounce) package Jell-O white chocolate instant pudding mix
- 1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
- 8 ounces white chocolate bar, grated, see notes*
Instructions
- In a 32-ounce mason jar or storage jar, layer the white hot chocolate mix ingredients in the following order: sugar, pudding mix, milk powder, and grated white chocolate.
- To prepare the hot chocolate mix for drinking, combine 2 cups of mix with 2 cups of water in a large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the chocolate pieces are melted and the mixture is heated through. Makes 4 servings.
Notes
You might be wondering why the recipe calls for grated white chocolate bars, rather than the white chocolate chips pictured. After having tried this recipe both ways, my preference is for the grated white chocolate. Feel free to use white chocolate chips if you wish, but I don't feel like they melt as smoothly.
natasha krishnan says
the picture shows white chocolate chips. is this in addition to the shaved white chocolate. if so, how much white chocolate chips do you recommend adding
Tara Kuczykowski says
Hi Natasha! I'm sorry if that was a little confusing. I actually discovered that a grated white chocolate baking bar works much better in this recipe, so I updated it to reflect this. The photos were taken several years ago, and I need to update them. I will add a note to the recipe card in case anyone else has the same question. Thanks!
Courtney Rive says
For a single cup of hot cocoa how many tablespoons of mix do you use. I want to send this to my college student for exam week.
Tara Kuczykowski says
Hi Courtney! I would use 1/2 cup of the mix and 1/2 cup of water. Such a thoughtful gift -- I would have loved this when I was in college!
Amanda says
Did you use powder sugar or granulated?
Thank you!
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
Sorry for the confusion, Amanda -- it's granulated!