Hot Chocolate Bombs 12 Ways!
Hot Chocolate Bombs 12 Ways- Step by step directions on how to make the trendiest treat of the season, plus 12 different and unique flavor options!
December 24, 2020 by Nicole Collins
The treat of the season.
Who knew a shell of chocolate stuffed with cocoa mix and marshmallows would turn out to be such a phenomenon this winter season.
I sure didn't!
What started as a fun 12 Days Of... blog project on Instagram turned into quite the little side hustle business over the past few weeks. I never expected to make so many of these little chocolate treats, and I NEVER expected how high the demand would be for these precious babies.
I know many people are giving hot chocolate bombs as Christmas gifts, but hot chocolate season is far from over. We still have a solid 2-3 months of COLD weather ahead of us, so there's still plenty of time to make and customize these fun little treats. And today, I'm going to show you just how to do that.
So today, we're making Hot Chocolate Bombs 12 Ways!
12 different flavors may seem like a lot for this fun little treat of the season. But in reality, I actually had to cut some flavors to keep it to a 12 day challenge on Instagram. There are truly soooo many possibilities with these little babes!
Let's talk chocolate. Between all of our flavors, we'll use milk, dark, and white chocolate. Chocolate chips work just fine for this recipe. You don't need to invest in the super fancy, super expensive blocks of chocolate. But, the real trick to working with this chocolate is tempering it.
We can use the microwave as a shortcut way to temper our chocolate. So, we'll start by placing our chocolate chips in a glass bowl, and microwaving them for 30 seconds. Then, we'll stir; and continue microwaving in 10-15 second intervals until our chocolate is melted. But, here's the real trick. We need to monitor the temperature of the chocolate. We can do this by using a thermometer (candy, meat, infrared...doesn't matter) to make sure out chocolate falls between 89-90 degrees. If the chocolate gets warmer than 90 degrees, we can just add in some more chocolate chips, STIR STIR STIR, and check the temperature again until we hit the correct mark. This is a really important step to making sure our chocolate doesn't melt under our fingertips while we're trying to assemble our bombs.
Once the chocolate hits the right temp, we'll spoon some into our molds, use a clean paintbrush to evenly brush the chocolate all over the shell, then we'll pop the mold in the freezer for our chocolate to quickly set.
Once our shells are set and have come back to room temperature, we can even out the edges of the shell by placing the open edge of the shell on a super hot plate. This is an important step so that the shells seal properly to make a perfect sphere. And, we don't need any special tools to do it!
When our shells are nice and even, it's time to fill them. The fun of hot chocolate bombs is the surprise marshmallows that come inside, so we're going to stuff as many mini marshmallows as we can inside of our shells along with some store bought hot chocolate mix. And since we have 12 different flavors to choose from, we'll add any of our flavoring agents inside of our little chocolate shells too.
Our 12 flavors range any where from classic milk chocolate to 3 types of peppermint flavors to crazy unique flavors like Old Bay cinnamon! We have cinnamon roll, and Mexican, and butterscotch, and gingerbread, cookies and cream, and (my fav) peanut butter cup. There are so many choices!
Once we have everything stuffed inside the shells, we'll seal them, decorate them, let them dry, and get ready to enjoy them! To serve, it's as simple as placing the bomb in a mug, pouring over some super hot milk, and watching the magic of these chocolatey treats before giving the whole situation a good stir. Now, if you can't have dairy, you can serve these with a non dairy milk. But, serving these with hot water is not an option. Water would make the chocolate seize. So, stick with milk!
These little bombs may be super trendy for Christmas right now, but how cute would these be with some gold sugar on a new years table. Or how about drizzled in pink candy melts for Valentine's Day. And, I'm totally down to make some with a green drizzle, then spike my cup with some Bailey's for St. Patrick's Day. Hot chocolate bomb season is far from over!
Alright, everyone! I hope you have as much fun making these as I have! And, if you didn't follow along on Instagram for the 12 Days of Hot Chocolate Bombs, you can always check my IG highlights for a quick video tutorial on how to put these together.
Enjoy; have a safe and Merry Christmas; and, let's drink!
Hot Chocolate Bombs 12 Ways!
Serves: 1 bomb each Print
Ingredients:
¼ – 1/3 cup chocolate chips
1 ½ tbsp hot chocolate mix
1- 1 ½ tbsp mini marshmallows
flavoring components as noted in each variation
8 oz hot milk, for serving
sprinkles, for decorating
Directions:
For the baseline recipe: Place chocolate chips in a glass bowl. Use a microwave to melt and temper chocolate. Start by microwaving for 30 seconds, stir, then microwave in 10-15 second intervals as needed, stirring well between each interval, until the chocolate is melted and the temperature reaches between 89-90 degrees for milk and dark chocolate or 88-89 degrees for white chocolate. (This should not take more than 45-50 seconds total.) If the chocolate is warmer than 90 degrees, add a few extra chocolate chips, stir well, and check the temperature again. Repeat as necessary until the chocolate reaches the correct temperature.
Once the chocolate is melted, add about a heaping tablespoon of melted chocolate to each of 2 cavities of a 2 ½ inch sphere silicone mold that has been placed on a small baking sheet or tray. Use a clean paintbrush to spread the chocolate all over the bottom and sides of the mold, making sure there are no bare spots where you can see the mold. Try to keep the chocolate even with the top edges of the mold. Place the mold in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Gently remove the chocolate shells from the mold, and place on a wax paper lined tray. Allow the shells to come back to room temperature.
Decide which shell will be your bottom shell. Place a microwave safe dinner plate (stoneware/ceramic...not plastic) into the microwave for 2 mins. Gently place the bottom shell on the hot plate, open side down, and gently swirl the shell around on the plate a few times to slightly melt and even out the edges of the shell. Place the shell back on the tray, open side up.
Fill the bottom shell with hot chocolate mix, any flavoring components, and mini marshmallows, making sure to keep the fillings away from the edges of the shell.
If your plate has cooled down, microwave it again for 2 minutes. Gently place the top shell on the hot plate, open side down, and gently swirl the shell around on the plate a few times to slightly melt and even out the edges of the shell. Carefully, place the top shell over the bottom shell, lining up the edges as best as you can. Decorate the hot chocolate bombs with chocolate drizzles and/or sprinkles, if desired.
To serve, place hot chocolate bomb in a mug. Pour 8 oz hot milk over the bomb. Once the bomb breaks open, stir and enjoy!
Flavor #1- Milk Chocolate: Use milk chocolate chips and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Prepare as directed above.
Flavor # 2- Salted Dark Chocolate: Use dark chocolate chips and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Prepare as directed above. Drizzle bomb with more dark chocolate, and finish with a pinch of flaky salt (like Maldon salt).
Flavor # 3- Peppermint Mocha: Use milk chocolate chips and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Add 1 tbsp finely crushed candy canes inside the bomb. Prepare as directed above.
Flavor #4- Butterscotch: Use milk chocolate chips and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Add 1 tbsp butterscotch chips inside the bomb. Prepare as directed above. Decorate with additional melted butterscotch chips.
Flavor #5- Old Bay Cinnamon: Use milk chocolate chips and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Add ¼ tsp ground cinnamon and 1/8 tsp Old Bay seasoning inside the bomb. Prepare as directed above.
Flavor #6- Mexican: Use milk chocolate chips and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Add ¼ tsp ground cinnamon and ¼ tsp chili powder inside the bomb. Prepare as directed above.
Flavor #7- Peanut Butter Cup: Use milk chocolate chips and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Add 2 tbsp peanut butter chips inside the bomb. Prepare as directed above. Decorate with additional melted peanut butter chips.
Flavor #8- Gingerbread: Use milk chocolate chips and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Add 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/8 tsp ground ginger, and 1/8 tsp total of equal parts ground allspice and ground cloves inside the bomb. Prepare as directed above.
Flavor #9- Cinnamon Roll: Use white chocolate chips and white chocolate hot chocolate mix. Add ¼ tsp ground cinnamon inside the bomb. Prepare as directed above.
Flavor #10- Cookies and Cream: Use white chocolate chips and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Mix 1 tbsp ground Oreo cookie crumbs into the white chocolate before brushing into the mold. Prepare as directed above.
Flavor #11- Peppermint Kiss: Use white chocolate chips and white chocolate hot chocolate mix. Add 1 tbsp finely crushed candy cane inside the bomb. Prepare as directed above.
Flavor # 12- Peppermint Bark: Use 2-3 tbsp white chocolate chips for 1 half of the bomb, 2-3 tbsp milk chocolate chips for the other half of the bomb, and milk chocolate hot chocolate mix. Mix ½ tbsp finely crushed candy cane into the white chocolate before brushing into the mold. Add ½ tbsp finely crushed candy cane inside the bomb. Prepare as directed above.
Recipe notes:
*You don't need a candy thermometer to temper the chocolate. A meat thermometer or infrared thermometer works fine here too.
*A 2 ½ inch silicone sphere mold typically has 6 cavities. It takes just under 1 cup of chocolate chips to fill all 6 cavities at once. 1 12oz bag of chocolate chips can fill 12 cavities (or 6 full hot chocolate bombs).
*When it's time to serve, we need our milk to be HOT. I prefer to use 1% milk for these drinks, but use what you like. You can use non dairy milk like nut or coconut milk in place of the dairy milk if you prefer, but you can't replace the milk with water.
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