For quality control purposes, I had to sample a cup to make sure it was tasty enough to give out. It was so rich and delicious. Really, what's not to like? It's vanilla sugar and chopped chocolate bars!
Frankly, it was so good, it was hard to package it up and give away! I love hot chocolate! But I certainly don't need that much of it around the house. I packaged it up the mix along with marshmallows and Williams-Sonoma Peppermint North Poles. 
* I have made several different things from recipes I got from Annie's Eats (including peppermint mocha cupcakes this past weekend too). All of them have been wonderful. Definitely check out her recipes!
Hot Chocolate Mix
Ingredients:
2 vanilla beans
4 cups granulated sugar
1½ lbs. good quality semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
9 oz. good quality bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups Dutch process cocoa powder*
Directions:
Split and scrape the vanilla beans and combine in a large bowl or jar with the sugar. Work the vanilla seeds into the sugar with your fingers. Bury the pods under the sugar, cover tightly and let stand overnight (or up to months) at room temperature. Remove the pods when ready to use.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the sugar, semisweet and bittersweet chocolate, and Dutch process cocoa powder. Process in 4-second pulses until the chocolate is very finely ground and the mixture is well combined. Store the mix in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Serving Instructions:
Combine 2 tablespoons cocoa mix with 8 oz. of very warm milk and stir to combine until well blended.
I find it hard to follow the beans, seeds, and pods. I guess I need to do more research on working with vanilla beans...
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