If you haven’t seen a cocoa bomb video yet, are you really even on the internet? The idea is intriguing, a chocolate sphere filled with cocoa and marshmallows, that melts and expoldes a chocolate-y treat when you pour hot milk over it? Sign me up. Now.
If you are intimidated by these but still want to impress friends and family with your culinary skills, you might want to check out my Hot Chocolate on a Stick recipe.
This post contains affiliate links to a few of the tools mentioned.
Wait! Before You Jump in and Become a Cocoa Bomb Making Machine
Before you jump in and actually make these little packages of chocolate bliss, take a moment to read the notes below the recipe for the best results.
After that? Jump right in!
Surprisingly Simple Hot Cocoa Bombs
Surprisingly easy to make, these hot cocoa bombs require the right type of chocolate, a dose of patience, and a few special tools.
Ingredients
- 2 Lindt Excellence Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate Bars
- 16 tablespoons hot cocoa mix
- marshmallows or crushed peppermint
Instructions
- Make sure your molds are clean and dry.
- Preheat the pot you will be using to melt the chocolate. I found the best method was to heat the pot on the stove while I chopped the chocolate. Once I was ready to melt the chocolate, I removed the pot from the heat and gently stirred the chocolate slivers. I was able to completely melt the chocolate this way with no risk of burning it.
- Chop the chocolate into fine slivers or grate it.
- Remove pot from stove and add chocolate slivers. Stir with silicone spatula.
- Once chocolate is completely melted, us silicone brush paint a layer of chocolate inside the molds.
- Chill in refrigerator for 5 minutes.
- Remove mold from fridge and add another layer of chocolate coating. Make sure your chocolate isn’t *too* hot, you don’t want to melt the layer already in the molds. Refrigerate again. Do a total of 2-4 layers of chocolate. Cool in refrigerator.
- Gently remove the chocolate from the mold. This was pretty easy with the silicone molds, just make sure you are gentle and don’t crack the chocolate.
- Place semi-circles of chocolate onto upside-down mold so you don’t melt it with your body heat..
- Add two tablespoons of hot chocolate mix and marshmallows or crushed peppermint.
- Use piping bag or plastic bag to put a line of chocolate on rim of circle. Gently add the second sphere on top and paint around the edge of the ball to seal it.
- Roll in sprinkles or crushed peppermint.
Recipe Notes
To Serve:
Once these are made they should be stable and not need to be refrigerated. Add one hot cocoa bomb to a mug. Pour 8-10 ounces of really hot milk (simmering, but not boiling) over. The milk will melt the chocolate and the marshmallows will POP out of the bomb. Stir vigorously and enjoy!
The First Secret to the Perfect Hot Cocoa Bombs
As with most things in life, the secret to delicious hot cocoa bombs is quality chocolate. From my research, you need to use chocolate that has a high cocoa butter content. For these I used Lindt Excellence Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate.Two bars should yield about 8 cocoa bombs, depending on thick you layer on the chocolate.
By the way, these hot cocoa bombs are kind of big, so you might want to make sure you have nice, wide mugs onhand.
Hot Cocoa Bombs Aren’t Hard to Make…But Do Require Patience
Confession, we don’t own a microwave (much to Avi’s disappointment…she insists we need one so she can make microwave popcorn). Alas, we have somehow managed to survive all these years without one. I love, love, LOVE this enamel-covered cast iron pot from Amazon. Here is a similar one. The cast iron means the bottom is heavy enough to melt your chocolate without burning it.
The Second Secret to Making Pefect Hot Cocoa Bombs
If you know your way around the kitchen, you are probably aware that it is easy to burn chocolate…and burnt chocolate is no good. It turns gritty and looses all smoothness, effectively ruining whatever you are trying to make.
Here is my secret: I heat up my cast-iron pot while I am slicing the chocolate for this recipe. By the time I was finished, the bottom of the pot was hot. I removed it from the heat and added in the chocoate slivers. I let them sit there until they began to melt, then stirred gently. Within 2-3 minutes, the chocolate was melted perfectly and ready to be added to the mold!
Turning your silicone mold upside down will allow you to fill the bombs with hot chocolate and marshmallows without melting the chocolate. Also, wearing disposable gloves will prevent fingerprints from getting on your hot cocoa bombs.
And if your hot cocoa bombs don’t look quite perfect? Roll those babies in some sprinkles and crush peppermints. Because as we all know, sugar covers a multitude of sins.
And Now…for the Magic!
To serve these delcious bombs of pure bliss, heat milk until it is very hot, but not scalding. Pour slowly over the bomb, and watch as the chocolate slowly, then quickly melts, eventually bursting open releasing the hot chocolate powder and marshmallows.
Stir vigirously to make sure the hot chocolate powder is well-mixed and enjoy!
Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions.
By far the best hot cocoa bomb recipe published online with the most helpful & relevant tips; from using quality, premium chocolate to properly handling hardened chocolate to avoid melting.
Thanks for taking the time to provide so many crucial details!