At the office or on a camping trip, those little envelopes of powdered cocoa are convenient. But they’re far from the real thing — a cup of hot chocolate whipped up from just three ingredients.  The Carnation company hopes we’ll get so caught up in the handy packets we’ll forget: it takes the same amount of time to make a cup from scratch as it does to stir up the powdery blend.  Anyone need a refresher?

You need milk, cocoa powder and sugar.  Skim, 2% or whole milk will do fine.  For cocoa, Whole Foods sells Chattfield’s, but Hershey’s and Nestle taste good, too.  Fill a mug with milk, stir in a rounded tablespoon (from the silverware drawer, not the measuring spoon) of cocoa and rounded tablespoon and a half of sugar.

It will look like this.  Stir a little, then put in the microwave for a minute. Take out the cup, stir it again, then microwave once more until hot.  If you put a few marshmallows in for the second cycle, they’ll get nice and melty.  If you prefer, you can mix and heat your hot chocolate in a saucepan on the stove. This makes it easy to taste often.

Once you’ve mastered your preferred blend, and some people like to add a dash of salt, go farther.  A pinch of cayenne, a splash of rum, your winter religion.