Gift Giving Mixes : Chocolate Gravy

In the age of outlandish holidays with ever growing price tags, just about everyone appreciates a heartfelt gift personally made for them. Gift mixes are an excellent way of doing this.

Baked goods are always well liked, but mixes offer even more time saving convenience on the part of the giver and give the receiver an opportunity to have some special time in their kitchen. Even people who work full time can squeeze in time to prepare a special treat if they have a mix!

Now, before you start doubting the value of your gift of a mix, check the price tags of some ready made mixes in specialty gift shops and such. My grandmother once bought an apple crisp mix in a bag for $8.00! It was enough to make an 8×8 dish and tasted exactly like my apple crisp. I like to mentally place a monetary value on the gifts I give, in order to make sure I am giving gifts of equal value to my child’s teachers and such. I consider this to be at least a five dollar value, in case you needed a guide.

Chocolate gravy makes an ideal mix to give. Those familiar with it instantly respond with widened eyes and “ooh’s” and “aah’s”. Those unfamiliar with it are intrigued and anxious to taste this chocolatey concoction. Another plus? When was the last time you saw chocolate gravy mix for sale anywhere? You’ve got the added bonus of rarity on your side as well!

My original post on Chocolate Gravy, including step by step photos of how to make it, can be found here.

Each time I bring you a mix, I am going to show you several inexpensive wrapping options as well as providing you with printer ready gift tags(note that these are two sided)!

Now, on to chocolate gravy….

You’ll need: All purpose flour, white sugar, and cocoa powder.
In bowl, place 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons flour, and one cup sugar.
Mix that up well
Until it looks like this. There, your mix is done! Now lets prettify it a bit!
I went out gallavantin’ and bought some inexpensive supplies for packaging these mixes I’m going to bring you. All of the fabric you see came at $2.00 a yard from Wal Mart.  I got six spools of ribbon from Big Lots for $2.00, and a package of eight small gift bags for $3.00. The Raffia also came from Wallie World, it was two dollars as well.

Do you see these party bags? I get them in the party section at wal mart and try to ALWAYS have them on hand. Their uses are limitless. They make great packaging for small loaves of banana bread or a few cookies if you are sending them as gifts. You can use the enclosed twist ties or curling ribbon to seal them, your choice. They are also ideal for party favors or any other baked goods or small gift items. I buy them in a bag of twenty for a dollar and some change. I highly recommend you look for and purchase them now as they run low often.

Plain old zipper seal sandwich bags are a must have as well. I like to place my mix in them to seal it and then package.

First, we’re going to place our mix in a sandwich bag and get all of the air out before sealing.
Now fold over the top and tape it shut.
This was one of my favorite ways to wrap this.
I cut a small square of fabric and cut all around the edges with pinking shears.
Then simply rolled it up like a burrito.
Tie curling ribbon on each end and look how pretty!
Two more ideas are to place your sealed mix in a party bag or fill a 1/2 pint mason jar with the mix.
1/2 a pint will hold exactly one recipe of chocolate gravy.
For the jarred mix, get a cereal bowl (I am using a standard Corelle bowl) and place it upside down to trace on the wrong side of some Christmas fabric.
Cut out with pinking shears.
Until you have a nice circle of cloth.
Remove the screw band and center the fabric over the top of your jar, on top of the lid.
like this.
oooh another pretty one!

Or you can simply place your jar inside a small gift bag and attach some curling ribbon or raffia to it.

But the simplest of all is to simply put your sealed bag of mix inside a clear cellophane party bag and tie with curling ribbon. 🙂
 
Now, you can either type up and print out your own tags, or visit here to print mine! These tags include the front side as shown in addition to a back side which gives the entire recipe for Chocolate Gravy!

Chocolate Gravy Mix

Ingredients

  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 T flour
  • 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Seal and package for gift giving, including a tag with the above instructions.
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!
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HAVE A GREAT DAY!
Gratefully,
Stacey Lynn
 

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:
the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

~Burton Hillis

 

 

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120 Comments

  1. Just a question (LOVE the idea) but is there a biscuit recipe to go with this or a suggestion or a recipe that might be used for this?

  2. I was just looking at your cookbook for gift ideas and noticed that the recipe printed in the book on page 179 shows “2 teaspoons flour” instead of 2 tablespoons. You may already be aware of this. If not, thought you should know. LOVE your book!

  3. We always had Chocolate gravy as children. My mom made it. She got the recipe in Tennessee from a girlfriend. Only ran into a few people who knew about chocolate gravy and thought it was restricted to TN or to those who moved from TN to perhaps AR or other states. Mom always did it by memory though and every so often hers didn’t turn out and we had no recipe. My sister one year went to Mom’s and measured everything before she put it into the bowl or pan and came out with a recipe for one that works every time. It is similar to this one but am not sure it is exactly the same. We love it. All the kids love love and the grandkids all but about one love it too. My son and daughter make it often. I don’t make it very often but should do it more often even though I am dieting. We have that precious recipe which is from my Mom who has since passed away. Wish I had her goulash recipe. Why wasn’t I more interested in cooking when I was home with her? Her kitchen was always small and she did it all herself. We might cook when she was away from what we learned in 7th and 8th grade cooking classes. If I had to no longer have that recipe and someone would buy it for a lot of money, I’d not sell it as it is a heritage from my mom. I was both shocked and excited to see a chocolate gravy recipe on here and was surprised at the thought of making it as a gift, but how delightful. We have all shared Mom’s recipe around now in our family to preserve it. My stepson has a recipe that he adds vanilla to and which he got from a step -grandma in AR (probably originally TN family). I prefer mine without the vanilla. Mom always added vanilla when it didn’t turn out and then was supposed to be pudding but was not sweet enough for pudding. It made great gravy when she got her portions right and now we get it right every time with a recipe. I should thank my sister for preserving this recipe for our family. Isn’t it funny that her daughter is the one who least likes it. But her kids do. So we are now starting to look at great grandkdis not just grandkids and soon great great grandkids – just around a short bend in the road.

  4. Made these for my kids choir and mission friends teachers @ church for Christmas! They were a hit!! Thank you for sharing!

  5. I laugh when I hear a northern transplant ask me in a most peculiar way what chocolate gravy is. I have to tell them it’s the most wonderfully (southern) sweet treat you’ll ever have – and I like to do so in my most southern voice – LOL!!

    My grandmother made this, and so did my mom so naturally I make it too. My “Yankee” husband thinks it’s the craziest thing for me to make – it’s a bit too sweet for his palate. But oh how yummy to pour chocolate gravy over biscuits, pancakes, ice cream, or just plain ‘ol loaf bread with a dollop of butter!!

    I just use cocoa, sugar, and milk. I’ll certainly give your recipe a try though and add the flour; it will be interesting to see the difference.

  6. Will u publish a recipe for red-eye gravy? My husband loves it but I don’t know how to make it. Thank u for all the recipes and wonderful ideas, they’re great.

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