Recipes

Santa Mugs and a Delicious Hot Chocolate recipe

Last year my cute mom bought me all these darling Santa Mugs and I love to serve my delicious Hot chocolate recipe in them!

I. Love. These. Mugs. Sooo. MUCH!!

This year she bought me this cute little caddy from a little shop in Durango CO called Dietzmarket. I found a similar one below under Shop My Post.

Retro Santa Mug

These Santa mugs have a 1960’s retro vibe to them that just brings back Christmas memories of being a kid in New Jersey!

We never ever owned any Santa mugs. I think it’s just the painted face of Santa that floods memories back to my mind.

Remember advent calendars? Here is fun way to do a Christmas calendar in a big bold way.

Memories of Cold Snowy Days as a kid

As a kid I remember lots and lots of snow! My brother and I would be walking in it up to our thighs!

It was a wet snow and would stick to the tops of our boots, hats, scarves and inside our gloves.

Those snow nuggets would sit right at our wrists!

Back in the day the gloves were not so great at keeping the snow out!

Snow nuggets and needing Hot Chocolate

We were constantly having to pull off the little snow nuggets. They would cling to the inside of our furry lined gloves and boots and keep us so cold!

It also seems to me that the snow would harden overnight. You could always hear a crunch as your boots would break through the snow.

I remember my brother and I would try to walk ever so carefully as to try and not leave a foot print in the snow. It never worked haha.

He and I would play outside for what seemed like forever. Maybe even until mom called us in for dinner even though we were absolutely freezing to death!

Our hands and feet would be ice cold but we didn’t care. We just loved trying to build igloos, having snowball fights and pulling each other on sleds.

REAL wooden sleds not plastic ones like we have today 🙂

When we would finally come in we would whip off our snow clothes and sit on the heater vents. Always in our beige waffle print long johns.

The best thing was, mom would always have a cup of hot chocolate and hot buttered toast cut into triangles for us to dip into our hot chocolate!

Ahhh I can almost taste it now! I miss those days and I really miss my brother.

It’s been almost 11 years since he passed away from colon cancer.

I will always treasure these sweet memories forever.

Create Hot Chocolate Bar

I created this hot chocolate bar using my santa mugs hung on this adorable galvanzied mug holder.

Adding just a little sprig of holly berries to the top for some cute Christmas decoration.

In my 3 tier galvanized stand (that I used at my outdoor lake party) I used little bowls filled with min chocolate chips, sprinkles, chocolate kisses, mini pink marshmallows and of course candy canes!

Hot Chocolate Recipe

I want to share with you this amazing dark, rich, thick hot chocolate recipe that my daughter Madeline makes! This hot chocolate is like something you would get in Europe.

From Madeline-

1 can full fat coconut milk

1 can whole milk (using coconut milk can)

1/2 C cacao powder

1/2 – 1C chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Real Maple syrup or coconut palm sugar

I basically dump a can of coconut milk. Fill the can with regular milk and dump that in.

Add approx. 1/2 cup of cacao powder.

A handful or two of chocolate chips,

A drizzle of vanilla,

Pinch of salt, and usually a bit of cinnamon too.

Then I wait till it’s all combined and add coconut palm sugar or maple syrup to sweeten to taste.

You can play around with the ingredients until it is to your liking.

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Karins Kottage

Welcome to Karins Kottage! There is always something fun going on! You would think after becoming an empty nester couple that our nest would be very quiet and empty but our Kottage nest is usually more full than what we started out with! You might find me hosting a birthday party or graduation party and a baby shower on the same weekend or a big outdoor get together with 25 of our friends and family in the backyard or maybe I might be in the kitchen trying out a new recipe for my hubby and I to grill on the BBQ for a quiet night for the two of us. I am passionate about entertaining and setting a beautiful table! I may or may not have an addiction to cloth napkins and fun salad plates oh and goblets too! I think I will always have a home decorating DIY project in the works as long as my hubby is on board with me haha. We have painted A LOT in the 6 homes we have owned in the 35 years that we have been married as well as re-done multiple pieces of furniture, added wall and ceiling treatments, replaced lights, bathroom fixtures and even tiled floors! I have sewn what seems like a million window treatments for our home as well as for family, made slipcovers, and duvets and even a formal dress or two!