Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink
  3. Culture
  4. Features

How to Make Hot Chocolate Bombs

By
red mug filled with hot cocoa, marshmallows, and a candy cane sitting next to a plate of Christmas cookies.
Pixabay

Nothing screams of the cozy winter holiday season more than a mug of creamy, rich hot chocolate. While you can certainly go the conventional route and stir together your favorite powdered mix in warm milk, if you want to kick things up a notch and elevate your hot chocolate game this winter, you can make fun hot chocolate bombs with a few easy steps.

Hot chocolate bombs are delicious spheres of hot chocolate mix and mini marshmallows encased in a luscious chocolate shell. When you drop one in your mug and then pour steaming milk over the top, the hot chocolate sphere starts to melt, releasing the mix and marshmallows into your mug. With a few stirs, you have your creamy, dreamy mug of hot cocoa. It’s a fun way to enjoy the same nostalgic drink, and you can customize your hot chocolate spheres with different fillings and types of chocolate used in the shell. They also make great gifts or party treats when you’re entertaining around the holidays.

Recommended Videos

Curious to try your hand at making hot chocolate spheres? You’ll just need a silicone mold to form the spheres and a few simple ingredients.

Hot Chocolate Bombs Recipe

Equipment needed

  • Food thermometer , like those used for meat, to monitor the temperature of the chocolate.
  • Spherical silicone food molds to make the spheres.
  • Small, clean paintbrush for coating the melted chocolate inside the silicone molds.
  • Piping bag or clean Ziploc bag with a corner cut-off for sealing the chocolate spheres together.

Ingredients

  • 24 ounces high-quality chocolate in bar form, such as Lindt bars. Semi-sweet works really well. Avoid chocolate chips or candy melts.
  • 1 cup mini marshmallows; colored or plain
  • 6 tbsp hot chocolate mix of choice
  • Optional: Sprinkles or crushed candy canes to decorate outside

Method

  1. Clean and polish the inside of your silicone molds with a paper towel.
  2. Chop the bars of chocolate as finely as you can and place them in a large, microwave-safe bowl.
  3. Begin tempering your chocolate by microwaving the bowl of chocolate for 40 seconds, then stir, moving the chocolate on the outside toward the inside, and heat again for 15 seconds.
  4. Continue heating and stirring the chocolate for 15-second intervals until it is nearly melted but NOT fully melted. The residual heat will melt the final bit of chocolate, and if your chocolate gets too hot, it will not create a crackable shell. Here’s where the food thermometer comes in: you do NOT want the chocolate to get above 90 degrees. If it is getting too hot, wait before microwaving it more.
    Once the chocolate is nearly melted, stir it to combine it together, then paint a thin layer in the chocolate molds, being sure to come up all the way to the rim.
  5. Refrigerate the molds for 5 minutes, and then paint another full layer all the way up to the rim. Refrigerate again for 5 minutes.
  6. Gently pop the chocolate out of the molds and fill each half with 1 tablespoon of powdered hot cocoa mix and mini marshmallows.
  7. Use a spoon or spatula to add some of the melted chocolate to a piping bag and pipe it along the rim of your sphere. Attach two semi-spheres together by pressing them gently using this piped chocolate as the “glue.”
  8. Wipe away any excess chocolate at this seam or roll the bomb in crushed candy canes or sprinkles.
  9. Store in the refrigerator or freezer until use.

How to Enjoy Hot Chocolate Bombs

  1. Place your hot chocolate bomb inside your favorite mug.
  2. Gently pour in 14 ounces of steaming, but not boiling, milk.
  3. Watch the hot milk open the bomb and release the marshmallow and cocoa.
  4. Stir with a spoon and enjoy!
Amber Sayer
Amber Sayer
Former Contributor
Amber Sayer is a fitness, nutrition, and wellness writer and editor, and was previously a Fitness Editor at Byrdie. She… Read Full Bio
Topics
Food & Drink
Old Overholt’s newest cask-strength rye is its boldest yet
Alcohol, Liquor, Whiskey

Old Overholt, the rye whiskey brand owned by Beam Suntory, just released the 2026 edition of its Extra Aged Cask Strength rye — and it’s the strongest bottle the series has ever put out.

This is the fourth annual release in the Extra Aged Cask Strength line, an offshoot Old Overholt started a few years back to showcase its rye at full cask strength.

Read more
Food & Drink
JetBlue unveils new Mint menus from Crown Shy and Birdee
JetBlue

Love flying JetBlue? JetBlue just unveiled the first menus from its newest Mint® culinary partners – Crown Shy and Birdee – available online now and across select domestic and transatlantic Mint routes starting now. Developed in collaboration with Kent Hospitality Group, the new menus from New York City eateries Crown Shy and Birdee build on JetBlue’s distinctive approach to hospitality, this new collab brings new flavors on board. JetBlue is known for its premium Mint experience, feartuing an award-winning business class that features lie-flat seats & suites, exclusive perks & amenities, and of course, premium dining paired with complimentary drinks. This new collab will bring new flavors of New York’s favorite restaurants on board.

“The best part of any new Mint menu is seeing it come to life onboard,” said Stephanie Evans Greene, senior vice president of marketing and brand, JetBlue. “Our teams worked closely with the talented chefs at Crown Shy and Birdee to thoughtfully adapt their dishes for the onboard experience. We’re excited for customers to enjoy menus that bring two of New York’s most exciting restaurants to their next Mint flight.”

Read more
Food & Drink
The best beers to pair with your summer yard games
Anderson Valley

When it comes to leisure activities during the summer months, it’s difficult to beat the appeal of a round of yard games. What could be more fun on a hot, sunny day than besting your friends and siblings in an epic backyard brawl? I can’t think of anything.

I’m talking about games like croquet, lawn darts, bocce, ladder ball, cornhole, and more. The only thing that makes the experience better is having a frosty, refreshing beer firmly in one of your hands. But just like how you don’t enjoy every yard game, not just any beer will do.

Read more