How to make a hot chocolate kit. My January in photos

Here's another month in my pocket. Now we are waiting for February: what will it be like for us - warm, snowy, cold, rainy or sunny? Let's wait and see :)) In the meantime, look how January went for us :)) It was funny :)) What exactly? Look under cat. You’re definitely not used to this in January :))

But the coming month will also be eventful. For example, February 14th. The holiday is gaining more and more momentum. So try to give such a gift to your loved ones, they will be happy. After all, this is not just an unnecessary trinket that you can buy, but a gift made with love and with your own hands. And when you put it into action, everyone will be happy :)) Meet: hot chocolate gift set for loved ones :)

That's it, now we can definitely say with confidence that the New Year holidays are over. The Chinese New Year has already arrived, so you can put down your New Year's decorations :)) Have you already dismantled the Christmas tree??? I already removed it somewhere around January 3 or 4. At first I wanted to wait for Russian Christmas, but my hands were itching to remove it, so I didn’t wait for the holiday :))

And with the beginning of January, we also ended our holiday lunches and dinners. Ugh, I'm already tired of these family gatherings at the table for hours :)) The body asked for mercy :)))

Mercy came in the form of vegetables and fruits. Here I am eating lychees. By the way, we are now in lychee season. In general, in France it’s funny that you immediately notice how certain seasons of vegetables and fruits change. Various delicacies appear on the shelves in large quantities. Now we sell leeks, lychees, and tangerines in droves. Later there will be heaps of strawberries, later - asparagus, and even later all sorts of summer fruits...

The weather in January was simply incomprehensible. I just wanted to say: “January, you’re drunk, go home!” Judge for yourself. For example, sometimes it was sunny and pleasant. The sky is clear and blue! The air is truly spring...

It was so warm that... daisies and dandelions bloomed in my garden!!!

And for several years in a row, daffodils have been blooming consistently on my birthday!

But everything is not always so rosy! It's just the rainy season here! It rains every day and also floods! Bordeaux and other cities in France and Europe were flooded. Fortunately, this did not affect us personally, but some winemakers have this sad picture:

According to tradition, at the end I send you greetings. I'll show you myself. Meet Madame Larisa in person.

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Well, that's enough, let's laugh and okay! Let's get down to serious business! At Lena's eastflower There is an interesting FM for the Valentine's Day - "Sweet Valentine". Here's my job. Gift set for hot chocolate. Original, tasty, beautiful. I am sure that the gift will be appreciated.

For 1 jar of approximately 100 ml:

cocoa powder (NOT sweet) - 2 tbsp.

sugar - 1 tbsp.

soda - 1 pinch

cinnamon - 1 stick

chocolate drops - 2 tbsp.

marshmallow - to taste

to prepare the drink:

2 glasses of milk

This means that one finished jar will yield 2 cups of hot chocolate.

So, first we prepare the container in which we will give the gift. I recommend taking a jar with a capacity of about 100 ml (give or take). This kit contains what you need to make about 2 servings of hot chocolate (or 1 extra large serving).

1) Take 2 tbsp. l. unsweetened cocoa powder, add a pinch of soda, mix well. Soda is needed to soften the taste of cocoa, and also in the finished drink, thanks to soda, a very pleasant silk foam appears. Place this mixture at the bottom of the jar.

2) The next layer is white sugar.

3) Third layer - chocolate drops. You can replace it with regular dark chocolate, cut into small pieces. The layers must be laid carefully so that they do not mix.

4) Then fill the jar up to the neck with marshmallows (you can put them whole or cut them smaller). Close the lid.

5) Now carefully and beautifully tie the jar with a ribbon, insert a cinnamon stick into the ribbon. And also write a short note with instructions for preparing the drink.

The instructions might be something like this:

"Remove the marshmallows. Place the remaining ingredients in a saucepan, add a cinnamon stick. Pour in 2 cups of milk, place on heat, stir well and cook until smooth and hot. Pour into mugs, top with marshmallows and enjoy!" Or simply enjoy a cup of silky hot drink. It warms just great!

5) So, to prepare the chocolate, pour 2 glasses of milk, pour out the entire contents of the jar (except for the marshmallows, they are needed for decoration at the end), add a cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil. Boil for a couple of minutes until all ingredients are well mixed and dissolved. Pour into cups, top with marshmallows and serve.

You can buy anything in the store, but you know that receiving homemade gifts is a thousand times more pleasant. Here are 17 cozy, healthy, simple, and super budget-friendly options. Instructions included.

Thirstyfortea.com

A great gift for tea lovers. “Tea connoisseurs don’t drink sawdust from tea bags!” - you say. But who’s stopping you from packaging good, expensive tea in envelopes?

You will need:

a cone made of foam plastic or thick cardboard;
round cardboard box and rice for stump;
tea packed in small paper bags (the quantity depends on the height and diameter of the cone);
glue gun;
star, bows and other decorations of your choice.

Cover the cone with tea bags, applying glue to the top of them. Move from bottom to top in a checkerboard pattern. It is better to use bags of contrasting colors: the tree will look more elegant.

Glue the lid of the cardboard box to the bottom of the cone. Fill the box itself with rice to make the tree more stable, and then attach it to the lid. If you don’t have a ready-made box of the required diameter at hand, make it yourself. Take a tube from a roll of paper towels as a basis or glue it from cardboard according to this pattern.

Decorate the tree with bows, rhinestones and other decorative elements, and glue a star to the top of the head.

Tara Aveilhe/Flickr.com

Girls will highly appreciate such a gift. After all, this is an individual scent; no one in the city will have such a perfume.

Before you create, find out what smells the one you want to please prefers. For example, if a girl likes citrus scents, she will need lemon or orange. To add woody notes, you need sandalwood or cedar oils, powdery ones - roses or vanilla.

Ingredients:

½ cup almond butter;
½ cup grape oil;
100 g beeswax;
1 teaspoon vitamin E;
60 drops of lemon oil;
25 drops of eucalyptus oil;
20 drops of lavender oil;
20 drops rosemary oil.

Mix almond and grape oils with wax in a separate saucepan and place in a steam bath. When the wax is completely dissolved, let the liquid cool slightly and add essential oils and vitamin E. Pour the future perfume into molds. A bottle of old hygienic lipstick, a jar of Vaseline, etc. will do.

Once the wax has hardened, the perfume is ready to use. All that remains is to package them beautifully.

A great gift for freezing girls. A pair of warm, fairly sturdy socks that you don't wear can be turned into fingerless gloves.

Additional materials:

thread with a needle;
heart cut out of felt.

Trim and sew the sock as shown in the photos. Be sure to hem the edge to prevent fraying, and make all seams from the inside out.

Sew a felt heart on top. You can use any other decorative means. For example, embroider the inscription “Happy New Year!” or embroider mitts with rhinestones.

Another DIY gift for those who are always cold is. By heating it for 1-3 minutes in the microwave, you will get a great heating pad that also smells nice.

GA-Kayaker/Flickr.com

Paracord is a cord made of nylon. Initially used as a material for parachute lines, but then paracord began to be used wherever a light and strong cable might be needed. For example, stylish men's bracelets are woven from it. In ordinary life it is just a decoration, in an extreme situation it is a life-saving rope.

There are various techniques for weaving paracord. Here is one of the most common.

You will need:

150 cm of paracord of one color and the same amount of another (it is desirable that the shades be contrasting);
75 cm of black paracord;
scissors;
ruler;
needle and thread.

From paracord you can weave not only a bracelet, but also a keychain, or make a braid for a knife or a car steering wheel. You can easily find the diagrams on the Internet. It’s even easier - watch video tutorials on YouTube, there are many of them.

Witandwhistle.com

You can not only drink from such a mug. You can leave messages on it for your household or just draw.

Materials:

white porcelain mug without relief;
slate paint;
masking tape;
brush.

Chalkboard paint is most often used to renew the surfaces of school boards. Now there is a large selection of such paints. You need one that can work on ceramics. For example, like this one.

Choose an area of the mug that is comfortable to write on, but that will not come into contact with your lips when drinking. Cover the rest of the mug with masking tape.

Degrease the untaped area and apply paint to it in a thick layer. Remove the tape and leave the mug in a well-ventilated area for a day.

Witandwhistle.com

When the paint is dry, place the mug in an oven preheated to 150°C. After 30 minutes, turn off the stove, but remove the mug when it has cooled.

Now the mug can be washed in the dishwasher and put in the microwave.

Heygorg.com

If you are one of those who like to give experiences rather than material things, you will love this idea. After all, it’s not only a delicious warming drink, but also a reason to go or invite you to visit.

Take some pretty glass jars and fill them about a third full with hot chocolate or cocoa powder. Add a few candies or pieces of chocolate. Fill the remaining space with marshmallows.

Decorate the jars to your liking. For example, place a piece of fabric under the lid and attach a heart made from candy canes to the top. The label can serve as a postcard; write your wishes on it.

Another variation of this gift is a set for mulled wine. Take an orange, an apple, a clove and a cinnamon stick. Pack it all beautifully, make a label with your wishes and add a bottle of good red wine.

Candles are a traditional New Year's gift. But glamorous store-bought ones are one thing, a personalized candle or a candle with a phrase understandable only to the giver and recipient, or even with a photograph, is another.

Take:

white candles with a diameter of 5–7 cm;
A4 size printing paper;
parchment paper;
scissors;
glue stick;

Trim the parchment paper so that it is 1-2 cm wider than the A4 sheet. Glue the parchment to the printing paper, turning the edges over to the other side. Insert the sheet into the printer with the glossy side, that is, the side where the parchment is. Print out the image you would like to place on the candle.

The drawing will appear on parchment paper. Now you need to transfer it to a candle. Cut out the image, attach it to the candle, wrap it tightly with another layer of parchment on top and direct a stream of hot air onto the resulting structure. If the picture becomes lighter, it means it was imprinted on the candle. Carefully remove the top layer of parchment and let the wax harden.

The gift is ready! If desired, you can decorate it with rhinestones or sparkles.

This cosmetic bag greatly simplifies the search for the necessary items, because any lock can be opened.

You will need:

10 zippers 15–20 cm long;
safety pins;
needle or sewing machine;
threads

Sew the zippers to each other from the inside out; for convenience, you can first attach them with pins. Close the resulting fabric into a ring and sew. Also sew the zippers across in front of the dogs, and then turn the cosmetic bag inside out.

This is a gift for a person who cannot part with gadgets. Using the same principle, you can sew a phone case.

Materials:

a piece of felt suitable for the size of the tablet;
2 buttons;
sewn-in magnets;
safety pins;
dense thread in the color of the buttons;
thread in the color of felt;
needle;
scissors.

Fold the fabric so that the bottom part is longer than the top: this is the future cover of the case. Sew along the edges and turn the product inside out.

Cut the lid into a wave or semicircle. Sew a button to the middle. Attach the second one below, to the case. Make a loop between them, as shown in the photo.

Ohsolovelyvintage.blogspot.ru

Sew a magnet onto the base and lid of the case on the left and right. The fashionable case is ready!

You can also make a stylish organizer for headphones, flash drives, phones and other gadgets from an old book in a beautiful binding. Here's the detailed one.

lePhotography/Flickr.com

A gift that will delight not only children, but also adults with a sweet tooth. Making Santa Claus's sleigh is very simple.

You will need:

glue gun;
ribbons and other decor;
sweets: chocolate, sweets, candy-shaped candies.

Here is a detailed video instruction.

A gift for a bosom friend or colleague. Beer can come in handy on January 1st, and brown bottles can easily be styled to resemble Rudolph and friends. (Rudolph is one of Santa's reindeer, distinguished by his red glowing nose.)

Materials:

beer in dark glass bottles;
decorative wire;
toy eyes;
red pom-poms;
ribbon and bows;
box;
superglue.

Remove labels from bottles. Make antlers from wire for future deer.

Glue them to the back of the bottle. Attach the eyes and nose to the front. Tie a ribbon (to prevent it from slipping, you can fix it with glue).

Craftysisters-nc.blogspot.ru

Decorate the rest of the bottles in the same way. Put them in a box and decorate it.

A gift for economical women and men who love to cook.

You will need:

cotton fabric with a New Year's pattern;
batting for lining;
threads;
scissors;
needle.

If you have a sewing machine, the work will not take much time. Detailed video instructions - from pattern to thread cutting - are included.

Inside such a mitten you can put a spatula, a ladle and other little things useful for the kitchen.

A little more imagination, and your New Year's gift will become even more original. Attach a ring to the spatula and hang favorite family recipes printed on cards and laminated on it.

Lilluna.com

Glass snow... wine glass

Balloons with a miniature figure and artificial snow inside are very popular. Life hacker already shows how to make something similar from an ordinary glass jar. Today it's the turn of wine glasses.

Materials:

transparent wine glass;
thick cardboard;
a figurine that can easily fit into a glass;
artificial snow;
bows and other decor;
glue.

Cut a circle out of cardboard with the same diameter as the wine glass. Glue the figure to the cardboard. It could be a Christmas tree, fawns, or, for example, a car with a Christmas tree on the roof.

Place artificial snow, finely chopped white paper or foam plastic on the bottom of the glass. Glue the cardboard base to the edge of the wine glass and turn it over. Decorate the leg with a bow or ribbon.

belchonock/Depositphotos.com

Over the past year, very large knitted blankets have been incredibly popular. Finished products are quite expensive, so it is more profitable to make a blanket yourself.

Merino wool is best suited for this, but other thick threads can be used. Video tutorial is attached.

You can also knit a beautiful, warm scarf with your hands, without knitting needles or a hook. Life hacker has already seen how this is done.

Ourbestbites.com

This gift will help you remember the best moments of the past year. Just choose the best photos and print them. Get some clear glass jars and vases. Round and cylindrical vessels work best.

Light pill candles inside the jars. The light will fill the house with warmth, and the photographs will seem to glow from within.

Iheartnaptime.net

Many people have flaky skin in winter. If there are such people among your friends, prepare them a sugar-lemon scrub as a gift.

According to the Chinese calendar, the symbol of 2017 is the rooster. Therefore, gifts with the image of a rooster or in the shape of roosters and hens will be especially relevant. A universal option for such a gift is a Christmas tree toy.

You will need:

cardboard blank in the shape of a rooster;
thick fabric;
filler for toys;
twine and lace ribbon;
white outline;
scissors;
needle and thread;
glue gun

The manufacturing process is shown in the following video.

You can sweeten such a gift with sweet cockerels on a stick. Many people still have their uniform from Soviet times.

Ingredients:

½ cup granulated sugar;
2-3 tablespoons of water (just to moisten the sugar);
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (in some recipes add regular tablespoon or a pinch of citric acid).

You need to boil syrup from sugar and pour it into a form generously greased with vegetable oil. Then stick the sticks in and wait until everything hardens.

If you know other original DIY solutions, share them in the comments.

In the coming days, on the M.Vkus portal you will find a review of recipes for cookies and sweets that you can easily make at home with your own hands. In this article, we have collected ideas for you on how you can please your loved ones inexpensively, tasty and stylish.

1. Hot chocolate set

A wonderful gift for relatives of schoolchildren of all ages, girlfriends with a sweet tooth and colleagues who love to cook. You will need a transparent jar with a tight-fitting lid and the ingredients: cocoa (50 g), sugar (50 g), milk powder (50 g), culinary chocolate pieces (50 g) and marshmallows. It is better to buy all the ingredients in large packages - it will be cheaper and you can make many gifts.Simply layer the ingredients in a jar and seal. Don’t forget to include a New Year’s card and warn that you need to first take out the marshmallows, pour all the other ingredients into a saucepan, add hot water, stir well and boil a little, pour into mugs and decorate with marshmallows. By the way, for ease of preparation (and savings), it is better to make such sets in small jars.

2. Flavored salt

Salt with the aromas of rosemary and thyme, with pieces of multi-colored peppers, lemon zest or dried mushrooms costs quite a lot in the store. At the same time, it is very easy to prepare it at home with your own hands, package it in jars with tight-fitting lids and give it to friends and colleagues. You can even create small sets by labeling each container: salt for meat dishes - with rosemary, for fish - with lemon zest, for pasta - with Provençal herbs, for noodles - with curry and turmeric, for vegetables and salads - with pieces of dried olives or garlic How to make this salt .

3. Set for pancakes, waffles, charlottes or muffins

This interesting idea will appeal to your friends who enjoy cooking, but do not like to stand at the stove for a long time. A layer of flour, a layer of sugar, a pinch of salt and baking powder... Next - as your imagination tells you. You can add raisins or finely chopped dried apricots, nuts or culinary chocolate. By the way, you can use gluten-free, whole grain flour, add a little oatmeal or rice. Instead of white sugar, use cane sugar. The recipient of such a gift will only need to add eggs, melted butter or a little warm milk, depending on the recipe. By the way, don’t forget to write it down and attach it to your gift jar.

4. Granola or muesli for breakfast

All you have to do is take cheap oatmeal, pour sugar syrup over it (water and sugar are also inexpensive ingredients) and lightly bake in the oven at low temperature, stirring occasionally. You will get baked homemade muesli. Add dried fruits, coconut crumbs, flax and sunflower seeds to them - and you get a very healthy and tasty breakfast that will look great in a large transparent jar. Both women and men will like this gift. And of any age. All you have to do is pour muesli into a bowl, add milk - and a delicious breakfast is ready in just 1 minute. Who would refuse such a useful gift, made with love and with your own hands?!

5. Mulled wine set

This winter gift will appeal to all adults who drink alcoholic beverages. The good thing about it is that you practically don’t need to spend time to make it. Place 4 tbsp in a plastic bag. l. cane sugar, 20 clove flowers, 4 cinnamon sticks, 2 star anise, 20 allspice peas, 0.5 tsp. ground ginger. Tie the package properly and place it in a beautiful gift bag, which you tie with stylish twine to the neck of a bottle of inexpensive dry red wine. It is enough to pour the contents of the bottle into a saucepan, add the set from the package, optional pieces of fruit, and simmer for 10 minutes over low heat. A warming winter cocktail is ready.

6. Homemade jam

A jar of orange marmalade, strawberry jam or plum jam is always useful around the house. They can add variety to your morning oatmeal, decorate pancakes, or simply spread on top of toast. Moreover, frozen fruits and berries are cheap, so a jar of jam won’t be too expensive. To save money and at the same time be even more original, we recommend inventing a variety of mixes. For example, apple-strawberry jam with cinnamon, cherry-blackberry jam with rosemary, pumpkin-plum jam with lemon crusts... By the way, if someone you know doesn’t like sweets at all, it doesn’t matter. Lingonberry and cranberry confitures are traditionally considered the best sauces for steaks, meatballs and roast beef.

7. Flavored oil

This oil with sprigs of dried rosemary or thyme, red chili pods, cloves of garlic or multi-colored black, white and pink peppercorns is a real gift for anyone who cooks. This oil is an ideal dressing for green salad; you can fry it or pour it over meat, poultry and fish before baking, and add flavor to ready-made dishes. By the way, if you infuse this oil on a cinnamon stick or vanilla pod, it is perfect for making pancakes, pancakes and cheesecakes.

8. Lollipops

One of the most budget-friendly gifts is that a couple of bags of granulated sugar are enough to make candy for a large group of colleagues or a group of friends. To make your sweets even more interesting and colorful, add a little food coloring. If there are no special candy devices, shaped silicone ice molds are quite suitable. Just be sure to grease them with vegetable oil to make it easier to remove your lollipops. Mix 250 g of sugar and 100 ml of water with a pinch of dye, cook over low heat, stirring until the mixture thickens. Pour into molds, insert toothpicks or sticks and leave the caramel to harden. You can pour caramel of one color on the bottom of the mold, and another on top. Then your sweets will turn out to be multi-layered. Place the frozen candies into transparent bags and tie with a bright ribbon.

9. Homemade sauces

Pesto, adjika , tkemali, salsa - everyone loves sauces, but fewI like to tinker with them. INyou can cookat home, for example, a large pot of tomato sauce for pasta, pour it into tightly sealed jars and give it to friendsalong with a pack of store-bought spaghetti or even homemade tagliatelle (you will need flour, water, an egg and a rolling pin)with a playful congratulation that this is a NZ for the New Year holidays, when Olivier will be eaten and you will need to feed yourself and your family with something. This gift will definitely be rememberedfor a long time, unlike cheap (and in fact costing even more than this gift) symbols of the year or useless souvenirswith New Year's symbols.

10. Soft caramel toffees “Toffee”

In England and the United States, soft caramel toffees called “Toffees” are popular sweets that are often prepared and given to each other just in time for the New Year holidays. They are easy to make yourself and are prepared from inexpensive ingredients. In a large saucepan, mix 2 cups granulated sugar, 0.5 cups milk and water and 50 g butter. When the mixture thickens, remove it from the stove, pour into molds, cool, and then put it in the refrigerator. Wrap the finished toffees in wrapping paper so that they do not stick to each other, put them in a gift bag and treat them to colleagues and friends.

We hope you enjoyed our first roundup of Christmas and New Year gift ideas. There is also a selection of recipes for gift cookies and sweets ahead, as well as reviews of equipment and useful inexpensive kitchen items - for those who do not have time to make gifts with their own hands and find it easier to buy them.

What could be better than a gift made with your own hands? Well, of course, a sweet and tasty gift, or rather, a gift set for preparing a delicious drink. The recipient of the gift will only have to add milk, and we will provide it for everyone else!

To prepare such a gift set of hot chocolate, you need to stock up on nice, presentable jars (volume - 300 ml), because they will be the packaging for the gift. The jar contains a dry mixture for preparing a drink for two people.

Let's prepare the ingredients and start assembling the kit.

Mix milk powder, cocoa powder and cinnamon and carefully pour the first layer onto the bottom of the jar. It is advisable to spoon out the mixture so as not to stain the walls of the jar.

The next layer is chocolate. If these are chocolate drops, then simply sprinkle them on granulated sugar; if this is an ordinary bar, then first chop the chocolate with a knife and then add it to the jar.

Next, you will have to work a little, and maybe “let off steam”: free one sugar cane from the packaging, put the cane into a bag and use a rolling pin or hammer to crush the candy into small crumbs, and then add it to the jar on top of the chocolate.

Well, what would hot chocolate be without marshmallows? Fill the remaining space in the jar with small marshmallows.

The hot chocolate gift set is ready. All that remains is to write instructions for use, tie the jar with tinsel or gift thread, attach a second gift cane and some cute New Year's toy. Cute, isn't it? And the jar will come in handy later on the farm!

Here's how to prepare the drink from this gift set: this jar is designed for two servings of hot chocolate, each serving requires 300 ml of milk. This means that we will heat 600 ml of milk in a saucepan. Let's put the marshmallow from the jar aside for now - it will be needed to decorate the finished drink. Pour the dry mixture into the heated milk.

Stirring, bring everything to a boil and cook over low heat for 1-2 minutes or until all ingredients are dissolved.

Pour the finished hot chocolate into cups and decorate with marshmallows. Serve hot.

I hope the recipient of the gift enjoys such a sweet surprise.

Bon appetit and happy New Year!