DIY- Holiday Treat: Hot Chocolate on a Stick

I tweeted about it a couple days ago and today I want to share one of my favorite holiday treat recipes, hot chocolate on a stick. I originally got this fudge recipe from King Arthur Flour's website but I have altered it slightly.

1/2 cup heavy cream
One 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
3 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped or in chips
One 4-oz bar unsweetened chocolate (broken or chopped into smaller pieces) *I actually used 1 4oz. cacao bar, 2 cups semi-sweet chips, and 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Wooden craft sticks
8″x8″ pan, lined with parchment paper

Constantly stirring, heat the cream and sweetened condensed milk over medium heat until it steams. Remove from heat and add all the chocolate. Stir it in and let sit for 5-8 minutes, then put back on medium-low heat and stir with a whisk until chocolate is completely melted and shiny. I added a bit of vanilla but you could add hazelnut or peppermint, or just leave it as is.

Pour the chocolate into the lined pan and spread chocolate out evenly. Now I seem to have miss placed my 8"x8" pan so I created a 6"x11" pan by adding a bread loaf pan to an 11"x11". While mine came out just fine, it is definitely better to have a square pan. Let the chocolate sit and harden for 12 hours.

Turn out your pan and cut the chocolate with a long knife. I had no problems because my chocolate was still a little soft. If you have difficulty, heat your knife under hot water, dry and then cut. You knife should cut smoother. I cut my pieces into 1-1/2"  squares.

I used this recipe to make marshmallows. I had used it before and they are heavenly. To save time though, you could purchase campfire size marshmallows and cut the edges off. I rolled the edges of the marshmallows in crushed peppermint and left the rest plain. For the campfire marshmellow, I would cut them in half so that they are more proportionate to the chocolate.


 Lastly, I threaded the stick through the marshmallow and chocolate, put them in a baggie, and tied them with ribbon. I wrote directions on a piece of cardstock, loaded the sticks into paper bags and added the directions to the outside.

For individual ones that I am putting in stockings, I added a little tag to the top of the stick with directions.

My batch made 24 pieces. Had I used a square pan, I would have had more but I ended up with some strange corners.

These are so cute and so easy to make; they just require a little time. It will be worth it in the end to see such fun packages. And it will definitely be worth it when you try one out for yourself!