This post contains affiliate links. We will be compensated for any purchases you make at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! My girl's and I came up with the idea for Hot Cocoa Bombs in 2014. I really wish I had thought of them years ago because they are a great way to celebrate special days and holidays. When my kids were little, in order to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I would put a drop of food coloring in their milk to turn it green. They loved that, but a green Hot Cocoa Bomb would have been so much better! If you still have young kids at home, I'm here to help you be a more fun mom than I was. How about Pistachio or Peppermint Hot Cocoa Bombs for St. Patrick's Day? Of course, we have already been making Peppermint Cocoa Bombs since Day 1. I mean, I think we came up with the original bomb and then immediately thought to make Peppermint ones as well. But, Pistachio? That is awesome, right? (Do you say "pist-ahh-chio" or "pist-a-chio, with a short "a" sound?") To get the flavor, I made the Pistachio Bomb shells with white chocolate. I used pistachio instant pudding to flavor them. I sifted out the bits of pistachio nuts that are in the pudding because I thought no one would like those in their mug. Was I wrong? Use quite a bit in your shell because the white chocolate flavor can over power the subtle flavor of the pistachio. I used the colorful, fruity flavored Kraft Marshmallows and picked out the green ones to use in these bombs. Then, of course, I used cute St. Patrick's Day sprinkles to decorate them. I used a few gold balls to represent the gold at the end of the rainbow. You can find instructions, many flavor and decorating ideas in our e-books in our Etsy Shop! Or, you can find many blog posts here on the blog if you search in the search bar. Here are a couple to get you started:
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This post contains affiliate links. We will be compensated for any purchases you make at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Since 80% of the United States is struggling with freezing weather, warming up with a Hot Cocoa Bomb sounds like a great idea! Then, while you are at it, liven things up a bit by doing the Tim Tam Slam!
Have you ever had or heard of Tim Tams? They are a chocolate biscuit sandwiched with chocolate cream and covered with chocolate. They are a product of Australia and they are named after a winning Kentucky Derby Horse from 1958! Not only are Tim Tams known for their unique texture and flavor, they are also known for the Tim Tam Slam, which the cookie company, Arnott's, developed and promoted themselves since 2002. My SIL, Adrian, introduced our family to this phenom a couple of years ago and it is so much fun, not to mention delicious! To show you how it is done, Alicia and Adrian graciously made a video to demonstrate it for you! Please like and share our videos! You will really be helping us out!
Target used to be the place that we could get Tim Tams, but I don't know if it is because of the pandemic or what, but they don't have them now and neither does Walmart. But, I did find big family sized packages at Cost Plus World Market! Or, you can order them on Amazon. I hope you can get hold of them, because we would love to challenge you to try the Tim Tam Slam and tell us what you think!
Doing the Tim Tam Slam with a Hot Cocoa Bomb is like a party in a mug!
So, here are the steps to follow once again:
Next, demonstrate how to suck up the hot cocoa and slam the Tim Tam into your mouth! Then, let everyone start to give it a try!
It is amazing how fast the biscuit gets soft when the cocoa hits it! It goes from being crunchy to a fudgy, deliciousness. You need to hurry and slam it into your mouth before it falls apart! You are going to love it. The funny thing is this only seems to work with Tim Tams. There is just something about them that lends them to The Slam! I've tried it with a variety of other cookies without success. Let us know if you give the Tim Tam Slam a try, (especially if you do it with a Hot Cocoa Bomb.) Did your family have fun with it?
This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thanks for your support!
The holidays are over, but in most parts of the country, the cold weather is not! There are still plenty of reasons to enjoy Hot Cocoa Bombs. When I found these White Funfetti Chips in our local grocery store, I knew that White Chocolate Funfetti Birthday Bombs for the Winter Birthdays would be an awesome idea!
In ourFall Flavors Hot Cocoa Bomb Book, available in our Etsy Shop, I explain that different types of chocolate act differently when you melt them and try to put them into the molds. I was a little unsure about how Funfetti Morsels would work, because white chocolate is usually very hard to get to cling to the mold if it is melted to too high of a temperature. But, I was so pleasantly surprised at how well these funfetti chips worked in the molds. There wasn't a lot of pooling in the bottom of the mold and the white chocolate, mixed with the funfetti sprinkles, kept its shape very well.
I want to let you in on how the process works when we come up with new flavors and designs of Hot Cocoa Bombs.
First of all, I needed to decide what flavor to put inside of these Birthday Bombs. When I tasted the chips themselves, I didn't really get a birthday cake flavor, simply white chocolate. I thought to myself that banana flavor might go great with them. When I asked the girls what they thought, they thought vanilla or cheesecake. So, I made a few of each flavor. Guess what, they all tasted good! I used Jello Instant Pudding in various flavors to add the flavor to these Bombs. I wanted the color to be light so that other surprises could happen when the Bomb is melted into the milk. You can flavor them however you would like! Here are the 3 things that I did:
Third, I had to decide how I wanted to decorate them! I thought I would pipe on stars and make them look like a birthday cake! A star on top with a gold sprinkle would be like a candle. WELL, that was less than successful! My family was split in the decision that I should do something different when they saw the pictures! Here is one of the original pics. I leave you to your own thoughts.
So, I changed the look by adding more sprinkles. I rolled some of the bottoms along the bottom sides, others, I just sprinkled more on the top. Remember, these are my first prototypes of these Birthday Bombs.
Of course, the fun part is testing the bombs to see how they melt into the hot milk and how they taste! All of these blue sprinkles turned the milk blue right away! I know kids will love that! Then there were some bubbles and the best part is always when the marshmallows pop up to the top!
We usually make our Hot Cocoa Bombs in the traditional bomb shape. But, we have been known to make them in other shapes as well. We have done Christmas Trees and this year Maddy made some Star Wars Ship shaped ones. (Those would be great for a Star Wars or Outer Space themed party!) I have seen people making a lot of pretty round ones as well. I have a one inch round mold that I used to make chocolate bells for the 12 Days of Christmas. I decided to make smaller Hot Cocoa Bombs for the smaller kids, since our normal Bombs make a large mug of Hot Cocoa. They came out pretty cute.
I think that at a snowy day birthday party, these fancy snowballs would be a welcome treat. For young children, I like to have them drop their Hot Cocoa Bomb into a hot cup of milk that has a lid. They can stir it, or you can help them stir it and they can watch the marshmallows pop up. Then, add some cold milk to cool the drink down and pop on the lid and add a straw! Saves on a lot of mess and the kids love Hot Cocoa!
The beauty of this process is that you can create Hot Cocoa Bombs in any shape or flavor that you would like! Use milk or semi-sweet chocolate and flavor them with peppermint or peanut butter. You can find all kinds of ideas in our books in our Etsy Shop, as well as tips to make it easier. We also put out a new YouTube video this year that gives more tips.
If you have anyone with a winter-time birthday, make them some special birthday Hot Cocoa Bombs! What a great treat! And, let us know how your Cocoa Bomb making is going.
This post contains affiliate links. We will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no extra cost to you. All views expressed are our own. Last year, I posted this as the 10+ days of Hot Cocoa Bombs. Since then, we've come up with more flavors and ideas for Hot Cocoa Bombs and published a new e-book to teach you how to make the new flavors. So, I thought I would update these gift giving ideas. Many people have ordered and purchased them from me to use as simple friend gifts or teachers gifts. They have become a tradition for many over the last few years. You could even go to our Etsy shop and purchase one or two of our books and give it as a gift along with the mold and perhaps some marshmallows as well. Or, just the book and a few bombs that you made yourself! As you look through this post, I hope it gets your creative juices flowing. Since we came up with the idea for Hot Cocoa Bombs©, Christmas just isn't Christmas without them. Last year for Christmas, I gave each of my kid's families their own Hot Cocoa Bomb© kit so that they can make their own without waiting for me to give them some Cocoa Bomb deliciousness. (You can order your own Cocoa Bomb Mold here and the Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea Book© here, as well as the new Fall Flavors Hot Cocoa Bomb Book). Last year, we didn't take part in a craft show where we sold Hot Cocoa Bombs and a number of people contacted me to find out why not! I felt bad about it because so many people use Hot Cocoa Bombs as gifts to teachers and neighbors. I did create a collection of bombs for a friend to give to her High School Choir class. This year, we hosted a Craft Boutique on Facebook and actually sold Hot Cocoa Bombs from our shop! If you would like to do some Christmas Shopping, the boutique links are still open. so click on over there! At this point of this 2020 year, we have created more flavors that will be awesome to give as gifts. So, I present to you The 12 Days of Hot Cocoa Bombs©! Now, All you have to do is decide which ones you would choose to fill your stockings for the 12 Days of Hot Cocoa Bomb Christmas! The 12 Days of Hot Cocoa Bombs©! On the first day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas my true love gave to me an Original Hot Cocoa Bomb under my tree! (click to the link of our original post). On the the next 3 days of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, he gave me some spice! Pumpkin Pie, Cinnamon and Gingerbread really are nice! (Every year the decorations on the bombs change!) On the 5th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, I got something to help me sing! A Hot Cocoa Bomb© with a peppermint zing! On the 6th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, I got something salty and sweet! A Salted Caramel Cocoa Bomb to sip, not to eat! (Here is an opportunity to enlarge this gift with whipped cream and salted caramel syrup!) On the 7th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, I knew he loved me like "no udder," when he gave me a bomb made with peanut butter! On the 8th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas my love put in my mug to steam, a bomb made of Cookies and Cream! (This was a new flavor last year! A mug is an obvious gift to go with a Hot Cocoa Bomb©.) You may have figured out that my true love is worth his salt! He gave me a Hot Cocoa Bomb with chocolate malt! On the 10th Day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, my true love passed the test when he gave be a Cherry Cordial Bomb, it's the BEST! On the 11th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas I couldn't let my true love forget the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cocoa Bomb with a video yet! (The video shows you how to make them!) On the 12th day of Hot Cocoa Bomb Christmas, I was filled with cheer when he gave me a Magical Butterscotch Bomb, or in other words, Butterbeer! Here is a final bonus flavor to help you celebrate the New Year! Tuxedo Black and White! Now, this bomb has class! Here are a few more gifting ideas!
Now, all you have to do is wrap them up (or not, but I do and I use these bags), create your own label and present them in a box, or on a tray (another gift!) or on a pear tree! Oh! I just thought of that! They could hang like little ornaments! I would love to see pictures and ideas of your Hot Cocoa Bombs© and how you decorate and present them! Trust me, they are going to be a gift that people will want year after year! Don't forget that you can print these sweet gift tags and how to prepare a bomb directions from our printable page. Just click the button! |
Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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