It is getting to be the time of year when Hot Cocoa Bombs are really popular!  There will be cold evenings around people's fire pits or fireplaces.  There will be brisk mornings when a cup of hot cocoa will be perfect to warm everyone up and a nice cup of hot cocoa with Christmas cookies are just the thing to evoke the holiday spirit!
 
     If you have been following along with us here on the blog, you know that we had a contest to see who could come up with some fabulous ideas for Fall Hot Cocoa Bomb Flavors.  We received so many excellent suggestions.  Our plan with these new flavors was to add them to our list of other Hot Cocoa Bomb Flavors that are perfect for Fall. We've also noticed a surge in the sale of our original Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea E-book that we sell in our Etsy Shop. It is fun to see how many people are latching on to our Hot Cocoa Bomb idea and making their own bombs! But, we haven't seen anyone with the number of amazing flavors that we have, so we knew that it would be awesome to put out a Fall Favorites Book and give you some new recipes for some of the many flavors we have developed over the 6 years that we have been making Hot Cocoa Bombs. Here are the reasons that you are going to want this book:

    Not only are we sharing the fantastic news about our new e-book, we have one more bit of fun news! We have surpassed 100 sales in our Etsy shop! So, to celebrate, we are giving our readers and followers a code to receive a 15% discount on everything in our shop!  That discount starts today and ends Monday, so be sure to hurry to the shop to take advantage of it!  This is your chance to get new Fall Favorites Book for 15% off!  So, are you ready for the code?  When you check out, put in code 100SALE and you will receive the discount! 
    Not only will you receive the discount for both of our Hot Cocoa Bomb E-Books, but we have so many other items that you will enjoy!  This is the perfect time to purchase For The Love Of Pie, our e-book full of delicious pie recipes!  You will be all ready for Thanksgiving!  If you have had your eye on the Adventures With Grandparents Posters or Booklets, now is a great time to get them as well! 
    Thank you so much for following us and being a part of our Hot Cocoa Bomb story! Do you want to know what one of my favorite things about Hot Cocoa Bombs is? It is the bubbles that come out when it starts to melt in the hot milk, then up pop the marshmallows!  That always makes me smile!  

    This is the first year in many years that we haven't participated in a craft show and sold our beloved Hot Cocoa Bombs.  So many of our past customers have contacted me wanting to know where we are!  Many are discovering our Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea booklet on Etsy.  So, I thought today I would re-post our original tutorial that shows how to make the best and most entertaining Hot Cocoa ever!  

The time has come! I am going to introduce the method we use to make our Hot Cocoa Bombs with all of their chocolaty goodness and hidden surprises!  Believe me, it took a lot of trial and error to get them to come out the way we imagined them.  Today, I am going to start you out with the basic Chocolate Marshmallow Bomb.  After that, the flavors and decorating ideas are endless.
To begin, here are the tools and supplies I use:
Wilton Brownie Pop Molds (Easy to order through Amazon!) Here is the kind I am using, and here is a Halloween one!  You can sometimes find Christmas ones as well! 
One double boiler
One soup sized spoon
One teaspoon
One rubber spatula
1 bag of chocolate chips per tray (I use whatever is on sale.)
Nesquik
Marshmallows
​Candy Melts and sprinkles to decorate

This post contains affiliate links and we will be compensated for purchases made through our links. Thank you for your support!

I wrote this post almost 2 years ago, just before my little granddaughter Sofia was born! Since the Autumnal Equinox is on Monday, I thought I would share it again for Fun Friday this week! There are lots of links that you can follow to past craft posts and past recipes.  I will link to a few other ones below.  I hope you enjoy the memories! 

      Hello from California! I am with Alicia waiting for her new baby girl to be born!  Since today is the first day of Fall, we are all working together on our Friday Fave post for our favorite season. I know that some people feel like Fall is the favorite holiday of too many people, so they want to be different. Or, maybe they don't like pumpkin or pumpkin pie spice.  But, around here at 3 Winks, we love the fall for so many reasons.  So, today's Friday Fave question is perfect for us:

What is your favorite thing about Fall?

     It was funny because when I asked my girls this question, Alicia and Lindsey each gave me an almost identical response. They both said that in the Fall there are a lot of things to celebrate and reasons to get together with family.  We have an extra abundance of reasons to get together in our family because all 3 of my daughters and one of my daughters-in-law have birthdays in October. Then, there is Halloween, Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving.  As Lindsey put it, Fall signifies the start of the holiday season!  You bake yummy food and spend more time with family.  In many places, not necessarily in Phoenix, the world changes color and the air is crisp and wonderful! You get to start wearing scarves and gloves.
     I was surprised that the first thing that Lindsey mentioned wasn't pumpkins! If you read Renny's Recipes, you know of her love of all things pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice.  It was heart warming to see that she and Alicia thought of family first!  But, Lindsey did mention that in the Fall she can eat pumpkin things without being judged!
     Maddy also surprised me. I thought that she would mention Halloween first since she loves Halloween.  That isn't surprising because her whole childhood she had Halloween themed birthday parties.  But, actually the first thing she said that she loves about the season is making Fall crafts.  You can see examples of her crafts here and here!

    Here is what I love about Fall. 

• The weather starts to cool off so there are so many things you feel like doing that you couldn't do all summer, like take walks and bake!
• I also love all of the reasons to get together with family and friends!
• Just like Maddy, I love the fun fall crafts that make everywhere look like a magical place!  Here are some crafts for this season that we have done in the past, here, here and here.
• You get to start eating so many good comfort foods that you don't eat in the summer because it is too hot, like soup, apple cider or Hot Cocoa Bombs!  (Speaking of Hot Cocoa Bombs, be sure to snag the free booklet on our printables page while you can, because soon it will not be free anymore! More developments are coming!)
  

Don't forget to order your molds for Hot Cocoa Bombs here! They are on sale for a good price right now!

     Because we love Fall so much, we decided to make a print to celebrate the season and share it with you, our readers!  We collected all of the things that we love about the Fall and put them into one beautiful reminder created by Alicia!  We hope that you love it!

Welcome Fall! Enjoy the season everyone!  Click the photos below for more Fun Friday Ideas!  (Or any day really!)

This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you.  All opinions expressed are our own.  Thank you for your support.

     For those of you who have just joined us here at 3 Winks Design, you may not realize that the reason we started this blog is because of this little creation of ours called Hot Cocoa Bombs!  They are the most delicious and excitingly fun way to drink Hot Cocoa!  This is the time of year when I get in full Hot Cocoa Bomb mode, making them like crazy for an annual craft show.  The craft show has changed this year, but we are still doing one and I have been busy making them again.  It never gets old because:

1. We created them and that gives me so much satisfaction! 
2. They really do taste great!
3. It is so much fun to watch the bubbles when you drop them in the milk and to see the marshmallows rise to the top!  I love it at the craft show when people order one to drink at the show and they drop the bomb in the hot milk and start to stir.  One teenager who was at the show with a robotics club said, " Wow!  We are here doing robotics, but YOU come up with this!  Genius!"  Ha Ha, what a great compliment.  Little kids get so excited with these things, too. 
4. Since creating the original Cocoa Bombs about 4 years ago, We have come up with so many new flavors! Trying new flavors keeps it from getting boring. 
5. Hot Cocoa Bombs make wonderful gifts!  I have sent them to family members and friends.  Once a PTA bought a bunch from us for teacher gifts!  Parents have also purchased them from us to put with a mug as a teacher gift.  

    So, for Friday Faves #80 today, I thought I would do a throwback to some of our favorite Hot Coca Bomb posts and ideas! You will notice how our blog has evolved over these past 4 years as well!    

• Our first post called, "Cocoa Bomber" is when we introduced ourselves and our Cocoa Bombs.  We were sure we would become an overnight Success!  Ha Ha! 
• Then we made a tutorial showing how to make them! How to Make Hot Cocoa Bombs! 
• When we came up with Chocolate Covered Strawberry Hot Cocoa Bombs, we produced a video showing how to make them! 
• Last year we did Gingerbread Hot Cocoa Bombs and made a free printable to go with them!  What a great gift!  Hot Cocoa bombs with a little framed print! Perfect for the holidays! 
• 
  

     If you want to make your own Hot Cocoa Bombs, you can go to the above mentioned tutorial and video.  We have also published a Hot Cocoa Bomb Book that will help you with how to make them, the flavors and ways to decorate them!