Pink Hot Cocoa Mix (and other beverage mixes)

I always enjoy making hot drink mixes to share as part of a gift basket or just along with some cookies, etc. It's something I do every year. The hot chocolate mix

is on both of my blogs, but I'll link to it again here for those who'd rather not take time to search for it. I've also made a spiced tea mix which is a favorite with some folks.

This year, I tried something new. It's called Holiday Hot Drink Mix but I renamed it "Pink Hot Cocoa Mix" and gave it to several girls (and a family with lots of girls) on my Christmas list.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any left over so I could taste this hot drink for myself. I had asked two of my granddaughters how they liked it, but their reply -- that they liked it, but it just wasn't their favorite -- didn't really tell me much about its flavor.

Today I decided to make up a mini-batch for myself and test it out. I divided the recipe in fourths to produce only a small amount of mix -- it made a cup or more of the dry mix. Then I boiled up some water and poured it over 1/3 cup of the mix in a mug as directed.

It's actually quite good and I would likely make it again. The only thing I thought I would change would be to up the strawberry flavor a bit. (The recipe contains strawberry-flavored Quik®. I would try enhancing the strawberry flavor by adding a bit of unsweetened strawberry Kool-Aid® powder, the type in the little envelopes.