[donna]

Has anyone ever made hot chocolate in a crockpot in the classroom?

If so...do you have a good recipe or tips on how to do it?

If not... have you made it another way in class? How did that go?

Thanks in advance.

[MrsM]

I've made it, using a homemade instant cocoa recipe and milk instead of water. If you have plenty of time, put the milk (or water) into the crockpot and turn it on high. If it's milk, you'll need to stir it periodically. If you don't have plenty of time, pre-heat the milk in the microwave before adding it to the crockpot. Add the cocoa mix when the milk/water is warm. I use a whisk to stir it in, it dissolves so much faster. Remember that kids like their "hot" drinks more like warm, so don't let the temperature get too high. My recipe is at home, but I can post the whole thing, including the amounts of cocoa mix and milk for a good blend. Nearly every student said it was the best they'd ever had. I teach Title I Reading, so I was serving 46 students and used two large crockpots, so one large one or two medium ones would be your size. I filled foam cups 2/3 full. I'll try to remember to get the recipe out and post it here.

[Azure]

I have bought the gallon of premade chocolate milk and just poured it in the crock pot to heat it up. Then you only have to buy one thing and there's no measuring.

[Brooke S.]

I just buy the cheap brand of hot chocolate and buy the tubs of it. I put in the the crockpot and then add water and mix. I want to say that it took one tub and then I filled the crockpot with water and it tasted right. I just experimented until I got it right.

The thing of choc. milk just heated sounds pretty easy!!!

[SJT]

You can also use one of those large coffee pot things (not sure of the title) that makes like 42 cups of coffee and pour in cocoa mix and stir. In the past I also just heated the water and poured it in cups with instant cocoa powder.

[MrsM]

For cocoa mix:
2 cups instant nonfat dry milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar (I use Splenda)
1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa
1/2 cup dry non-dairy creamer
Dash of salt (I leave this out)

Combine all ingredients well. I use a very large bowl and make 4 recipes at a time and put it all into storage containers.

On cocoa day, mix 3 quarts of milk with 4 cups of the mix. To get 4 cups, you'll need at least a double batch of what's above. Looking at my notes, this much served about 20 kids for me, so adjust according to how many you are serving.

[risingsprings]

1 Gallon White Milk
1 container chocolate syrup

I put it in the crockpot on low in the morning, and we had it for snack about 1:30. I only stirred one time since it was on low.

This was plenty for my 20 students and 2 adults.

Enjoy!

[donna]

Thank you everyone for the great and "easy" ideas.
I can't wait to try it out in class!