Hot Chocolate Balls

This is a Pinterest recipe that I couldn't pass up.  The original recipe is called Hot Chocolate on a Stick.  Mine didn't quite come out that way. 

2 lbs. melted chocolate (real chocolate with high content of cocoa butter)
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder

I melted my chocolate in the microwave.  The recipe directions melt it over a double boiler.  (Might be one of my mistakes.)  Mix cocoa powder and powdered sugar into melted chocolate.   I used dark chocolate cocoa powder.  (Might have been another mistake.)  The original recipe had you pour the mixture into a zip lock bag with a small hole cut in the corner so you could squirt it into a mold or mini muffin tins.  Mine wasn't squirtable but thick.  This is what I ended up doing.  Using my hands I shaped 1" balls and rolled some of them in cinnamon sugar and some in peppermint sugar.  Some I left plain.  For appearance as well as use, I put each ball on a plastic form, wrapped it with plastic wrap and tied it with a pretty ribbon.  I think they turned out quite pretty.  To use you simply heat an 8 oz. cup of milk, crumble your Hot Chocolate Ball into your milk, stir and enjoy.  It really is quite good! 

These are good to add to gift baskets with a simple little card telling the user how to turn their Hot Chocolate Ball into the real thing.