‘Tis the season for blissful sweet treats. This is personally my favorite time of year to end each day with a book, a blanket and a cup of delicious hot cocoa. Lately, my social media feeds have been flooded with videos of hot chocolate bombs—which are sort of like bath bombs, but for your mug. Essentially, a hot chocolate bomb (also called a hot cocoa bomb) is a solid chocolate ball that gets dropped into a mug of hot water or milk and instantly turns into a warm cup of decadent hot chocolate. To say the least, this new trend has intrigued me. And while you can go out and buy hot chocolate bombs, I went scouring the internet and found out that it’s actually super easy to make them on your own using pantry staples. Here’s more on hot chocolate bombs along with a simple recipe to try, especially if you’re looking for DIY gift ideas for Valentine’s Day!
The ingredients used for hot chocolate bombs
Hot cocoa bombs are made using melted chocolate, unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar and other ingredients. The process of making involves creating the shell (a semi-sphere mold is helpful for this), filling one half with the hot chocolate mix, enclosing the shell and decorating the outside with your desired toppings. It’s a fun DIY project to indulge yourself or gift someone special.
Are hot cocoa bombs better with milk or water?
Making a cup of hot chocolate with one of these sweet bombs is easy: just place it in a mug with heated milk or water and stir until it’s fully dissolved. And voilà! You’ll have seaming hot cocoa to savor when the cold weather is at its peak. Want for a richer and creamier drink? Opt for your favorite milk, such as Maple Hill’s Grass-Fed Milk, instead of water.
How to make your own hot chocolate bombs
Below, you can find a DIY hot chocolate bombs recipe shared by Maple Hill. The treats are fine to store in an airtight container in the fridge for two weeks. But, they may not last that long because they’re so delicious!
Hot Chocolate Bombs
- 1 (12 oz.) bag of dark chocolate chips or 2 bars of 80 percent dark chocolate
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ⅔ cup coconut or granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- Silicone half circle baking mold or large round silicone ice cube trays (overall circumference 2 to 2-½ inch circles)
Filling and Topping Suggestions:
- Fresh Raspberries
- small sliced strawberries
- Keto white chocolate chips
- Unsweetened Coconut flakes
- Unsweetened nut butter
- Cinnamon
- Sea salt
- Orange extract
- Peppermint extract
- Cayenne pepper
- Bourbon or Dark Rum
Directions:
- Yield: approximately 8 to 10 servings (1 bomb per serving of hot chocolate)
- Make the hot cocoa mix. Combine unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar and sea salt or small bowl or mason jar.
- Melt the chocolate. Use the microwave to melt chocolate in 20-second increments, stirring in between until everything is smooth.
- Fill the molds. Spoon some chocolate into the mold and use the back of spoon or pastry brush to push the melted chocolate around the molds sides and edges. Place molds into freezer 8 minutes to set. Repeat process twice to be sure side walls of spheres are thick enough.
- Remove the chocolate from the molds. Gently push and peel away half spheres out of silicone mold.
- Seal the bombs. Microwave a microwave-safe plate 45 seconds. The plate should be just hot enough to melt chocolate. Place an empty half of chocolate sphere on warm plate a couple of seconds, just until it melts.
- Fill. Add 1 Tbs. of hot cocoa mix and any other toppings you choose to one half of spheres. Pick up another half and melt edge on warm plate then gently push and hold two sides together until sealed.
- Dazzle and Decorate. Drizzle on some extra chocolate or white chocolate, decorate with sea salt, coconut flakes, sprinkles or dust with the hot cocoa mix.
- Serve it up: Heat 1 cup of milk or water and pour in a mug. Drop the bomb into hot liquid and stir until it’s fully dissolved. Enjoy.
