I too come from a long line of people who yodeled for that little Swiss Miss girl to come and make "hot cocoa." It was always made with water. I don't indulge in hot cocoa too much these days, but I'll often return to that Cindy-Brady look-alike girl brand that I'm used to and fill 'er up with hot water. On rare occasions, I'll use milk and then a dash of cinnamon to cut through the richness!

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Always milk. No question. Though when doing week-long projects where I'm not home and can't get decent food and need a sugar rush, it's nifty to miz a big clump of swiss miss with just a little water and eat it with a spoon. Childish, I know.

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I mix mine with coffee. At work. Twice a day. Must have mini marshmallows.

Addict? Me? Nah.

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I like to eat Swiss Miss straight out of the pack with a plastic spoon. YUM. I am a water mixer when I do mix it though. I suppose b/c I am always at work when I have it.

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anyone else confused by the first paragraph? shouldn't last word be milk???

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Yes, Faith, I agree it's a typo.

For us, it was Hot Chocolate, and always, always ... milk. Water mixes were for the lower class. You bought good chocolate and mixed it with milk or if you were especially cranky, with half-and-half.

Still, I'm not a huge chocolate fan so Hot Chocolate is never at the top of my list, I don't drink Mochas, and all these dark gloppy "hot fudge lava cakes" are just boring to me. Every once in a great while, however, hot chocolate with a big melting marshmallow cures what ails you.

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i call it 'Mug Brownness Heated Up All Sour 'N' Thin In A Mug'. i've never heard of it being called 'hot chocolate' at all.

then again, my family always made it with vinegar.

sigh....

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no doubt:Milk. The taste is so much better and richer and creamer.

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I always call it "hot chocolate" when I make it with water and "hot cocoa" when I make it with milk. "Cocoa" sounds fancier to me somehow.

I like it better with milk, but I've discovered that drinking warm milk (even with chocolate in it) puts me directly to sleep, so I usually use water if I have anything else to do for the rest of the evening.

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Want to hear something that sounds disgusting, but is actually quite good. Mix it in a blender with ice, butter, and a bit of milk. Or skip the ice for a smoother taste.

Its very close to a chocolate shake. If you don't have ice-cream at home -- its worth a shot.

Or don't. It is kind of gross. I had a friend make it secretly for me 2-3 times cause it was unique and tasty. Then I found out how she made it and it grossed me out. I never made another one!

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I use milk, but don't use a premixed package. I just make it from scratch (it's the best!). We've always called it Hot Chocolate.

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Real milk gives me a tummy ache. (LACTOSE INTOLERANT) I quite like making hot chocolate out of soy milk - it's quite delicious! In fact, I usually stir in a bit of instant coffee granules to make a home version of cafe mochas. Yum.

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Make my own----Start with a gourmet choc & mix with half & half (or heavy cream & whole milk) and add a touch of vanilla

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I'm with Marysue, but only once a day and I pour it
over ice to make it an iced mocha.

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The Keurig "blend" of the Ghirardelli cocoa has dry milk added to it, unlike the version sold in the cans at the store. It's pretty good stuff (you don't put the mix into the Keurig machine, you just pour it in a mug and dispense hot water). The non-Keurig version will definitely come out better, but the convenience factor tends to win out for a lot of people.

And if you're really looking for good cocoa, try Penzey's. They sell a nice package of a Cocoa mix (no dry milk) plus a couple types of cocoa for baking, ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks (stir the cocoa with them, yum).

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I, like Monica, can only handle a little dairy. So I use the mixes with water. Somehow the dried milk solids work better on my insides. When I "forgot" and thought it would be fun to make it with an expensive chocolate and use real milk? I was one the couch for hours in pain. I think it was the first time in years I've drunk actual milk. I call it both interchangeably.

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soy milk, thank you. and after jonesing for cocoa one day and finding the cupboard bare of the pre-mixed stuff i checked out the side of a tin of hershey's powder and, lo, one can mix up a whole lot of powdered mix and store it in a jar. much, much better working up from scratch and well worth it. drop in a marshmallow and enjoy the creamy vanilla-y goodness of it all.

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i drink a box of nestle fat free hot cocoa a day..... the whole box is sugar free, fat free and 200 calories. Of course i have to doctor it up with some artificial sweeteners.....but it is quite good.

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Funny thing, actually.
My story's exactly like yours.
I'm 15 and i only found out last month that you can make good ol' Swiss Miss with milk. *gasp*
It has changed my life forever.

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hot chocolate with water is chocolate water.
barf.
milk is the only way to go.
i like to make it with hershey's syrup actually.
good stuff!

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