Who doesn’t enjoy drinking a warm cup of hot cocoa on a chilly day or night?

Marie Heaton, a diabetic, likes to enjoy it as a late night snack before going to bed.      

When Heaton could no longer find her favorite instant cocoa mix in the grocery store, she got into detective mode. She traveled to other grocery stores, did research, made phone calls and even tested recipes to try to find that particular delicious taste she had grown to love

Then she remembered that Peggy Bracken, former County Extension Agent for Home Economics, hosted a meeting called “Making It Through Hard Times” at the Courthouse back in the mid 80’s.  One of the pamphlets she rediscovered from the meeting, (Circular HE-528) had a recipe for making “Hot Cocoa”.  Marie revised that recipe to one she enjoys drinking today.  It’s called “Diabetic Cocoa Mix” which tastes similar to her favorite instant cocoa mix she could no longer find.  Good job Marie!  Your persistence and hard work paid off!  Here are the two recipes:

Original Cocoa Mix

5     cups nonfat dry milk

1     cup cocoa *(Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa)

1.5 cup sugar

  1/2 teaspoon salt

Makes 7 1/2 cups

Directions:

Combine all ingredients together in a large container.  Mix well.  Store in an air-tight quart size container.  To mix, add ¼ cup of cocoa mix to one 8-ounce cup hot water.  Stir well and enjoy!

Diabetic Cocoa Mix

1.25 cup nonfat dry milk

   1/4 cup cocoa *(Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa)

   1/8 teaspoon salt

Makes 6 servings of 1/4 cup mixture

Directions:

Combine all ingredients together and store in a large air-tight container.  To make one serving, add I /4 cup of diabetic cocoa mix to one 8-ounce cup hot water.  Add 1 packet *Sweet and Low (pink packet) and 1 ½ packets of *Equal (blue packet).  Stir well and enjoy!  Nutrition Facts: 50 calories, 3 carbs.

*Use of brand names is for information only; similar products may be substituted.