M&M Hot Chocolate

We substituted some of our surplus M&Ms for the chocolate chips in our favorite crock pot hot chocolate recipe (found here).  The original recipe calls for cream, milk, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and chocolate chips.  We didn't have any cream, and figured the M&Ms were high enough in calories as it was, so we replaced the cream with extra milk, instead.  We went ahead and added the sweetened condensed milk - though I think in the future we'll stick with just plain old 1%, as the sugar-shock was just this side of extreme.

Not that the hot chocolate wasn't good - really good - I'm talking liquid M&Ms in a cup good - just a little sweet.

It worked out okay for us, as the children dilute their hot chocolate with plain milk to make it cooler, anyway.  But, for those of you who take your chocolaty goodness straight up, I'd suggest the following recipe, modified from the original linked above.

M&M Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

2 cups of M&Ms
10 cups of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients into a crock pot.
Allow to simmer on low heat - uncovered at first, so you can watch the M's, and pinpoints of color rise to the surface, then covered for 2 to 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture turns from a swampy looking mess...

...to an interesting pinkish color, with swirls of candy shell...

...to a rich and delicious, drinkable dessert color of brown.

Dip into to cups and enjoy.  
As with the original recipe, this version makes approximately 8 servings.