SO the weather here in Phoenix has been crazytown. Friday we broke the record with how hot it was, and then yesterday and today it was about 70 degrees. We were confused, but OH SO THANKFUL to have some more days of playing outside. To celebrate, we made some hot chocolate.
OK, I have to confess, the gorgeous weather was only one reason we made the hot chocolate. The other was because I recently had a recipe that called for a very small amount of condensed milk and I couldn’t bare to let the rest of the can go to waste. I wasn’t really up for making fudge and the only thing that came to me for using up the rest of the can was hot chocolate in the crock pot.
You may have guessed from my other posts about hot chocolate that I try to avoid the powdered mixes when possible, but I love how convenient and easy those are to make. I feel like the crock pot is a nice, low maintenance solution- I don’t have to stand over a hot stove stirring, but I get to use real melted chocolate. I’ve tried a couple of variations of this throughout the holiday seasons, but the basic recipe is

*1 can condensed milk
*2 cups chocolate chips
*6-7 cups of milk (depending on how many you want to serve and how intense you want the chocolate flavor)
*1-2 tsp. vanilla extract (depending on how much milk you put in… but also how much you like vanilla. I find this to be the KEY to great hot chocolate so I’m a little heavy handed with it)

I’ve seen variations in amounts, some recipes that use other forms of chocolate or add heavy whipping cream or different types of milk… we only keep whole milk in the house because that’s what my toddler drinks so that’s what we use!

Is there anything cuter than toddlers saying “Cheers!” ?!

Hot chocolate also happens to be one of my son’s favorite things in the world (after mickey mouse, birthday cake, his sister… and maybe Moana…) It was fun to make him this special treat at such an unseasonable time of year.

This recipe makes a TON and it is quite rich, so I recommend either cutting it in half or having friends over to help you enjoy it. Cutting the recipe in half wasn’t going to help my using up a can of condensed milk situation, so  we had fun sharing it on a playdate. We still had a lot leftover so my husband and I plan on using it over the next few days to mix with our coffees as a little at home Mocha treat. YUM.

I’m looking forward to trying some more hot chocolate variations come the fall, since I doubt unseasonably cool days are here to stay. And I believe I’ve pinned a recipe for “frozen hot chocolate” so maybe that will come up this summer!