A cup of hot cocoa or hot chocolate is a delightful warming treat on any day, specifically on winter days. Hot chocolate is one of the few drinks that are deeply ingrained in our collective childhood memories.
If you were grown up in a cold region of any nation, it undoubtedly brings back memories of snow days, sledging, or a peaceful day spent watching the snowfall. People love hot chocolate as a nice cup of hot chocolate can deliver that warm, tingly feeling on those winter nights, which individuals who grew up in a more tropical climate can appreciate. Hot chocolate has an excellent, rich, luxurious flavour and thick texture that warms your entire body. It has a rich, thick texture and flavour.
1. Hot Chocolate Bombs
Even though there are a variety of instant hot chocolate mixes in the market, DIY hot chocolate bombs are the most inventive and enchanting method. Hot cocoa bombs are hollow chocolate spheres filled with marshmallows, chocolate chips, and a dry hot chocolate mix. The coco bomb โexplodes,โ melts, and transforms into a delightful cup of hot chocolate when you place it in a mug and pour hot milk over it.
2. DIY Hot Chocolate Bombs
The holidays are the ideal time to enjoy DIY hot chocolate bombs. They can also be the best delicious gifts you can offer this holiday season. It is the best way to give a little extra to friends, family, coworkers, neighbours, teachers, and just about anyone with homemade sweets. There is an assurance that youโll have something that everyone will enjoy. These can be prepared beforehand and stored for later use.
2.1 Homemade DIY Hot Chocolate Bombs Recipe
i. Ingredients
a. Lots and lots of chocolate chips
b. Silicone sphere mould
c. Silicone spatula
d. Pastry brush, e. Hot chocolate or cocoa mix
f. Mini marshmallows
g. Sprinkles
ii. Method
A. Fill The Chocolate Moulds And Freeze
Making hot cocoa bombs starts with taking a tiny microwave-safe bowl. Add the chocolate chips, and then microwave for intervals of 30 seconds. After the ๏ฌrst 30 seconds, take the heat-proof bowl out of the microwave and mix. After that, place it back in the microwave to finish heating it for 30 more seconds. Removing it again will allow you to mix the chocolate, which should have already melted.
One can also use the double boiler method to melt chocolate. The melted chocolate should now be thinly coated within the silicone hot chocolate bomb moulds using a spoon and then evenly spread with the pastry brush. Then place the moulds in the freezer for at least five minutes after completion to allow them to solidify.
B. Touch up And Freeze
Check for any areas that are transparent by removing the moulds from the freezer. To ensure that the finished product is firm and sealed, i.e. the chocolate hardens, use the melted remaining chocolate to fill these gaps. You donโt want any hot cocoa mix to slip out too soon when you eventually place the hot chocolate bombs into hot milk! Place the mould back in the freezer for an additional 5 minutes after finishing brushing up the chocolate shells.
C. Fill with Hot Chocolate Mix and Marshmallows
Yet again, remove the moulds from the freezer and carefully remove the chocolate spheres. They should be very simple to remove, but be gentle because they will be delicate. Scoop a few tablespoons of your favourite hot cocoa mix into half the chocolate spheres. As marshmallows are essential to hot cocoa, sprinkle some mini marshmallows on top of the mixture. You are now prepared to assemble these bombs.
D. Seal the Chocolate Shell and Freeze
A small plate should be warmed up for one minute in the microwave. To partially melt the edges, gently rub the seam side of the empty chocolate halves on the preheated plate. Hereโs when your speed displays.ย Work swiftly to combine the empty chocolate halves with the filled chocolate halves, gently pushing the seams shut. Once all the hot cocoa bombs are closed and sealed, repeat the procedure with each one. After cooling for at least five minutes, put the hot chocolate bombs back in the freezer.
E. Touch Up, Decorate and Freeze the Hot Chocolate Bombs Again
The last step to making DIY hot chocolate bombs is that after removing the hot chocolate bombs from the freezer, carefully fill any holes or thin areas with melted chocolate using a pastry brush or silicone brush. For a further five minutes, put the bombs back in the freezer.
The last step to DIY hot chocolate bombs is to take the bombs out of the freezer and decoratively sprinkle the remaining melted chocolate on top. Add your preferred seasonal toppings to the tops, such as crushed candy cane, then freeze the homemade hot chocolate bombs for five minutes. You can also add white chocolate on top for better decoration.
2.2 Using Hot Chocolate Bombs
First, you need to boil some milk. The milk shall be boiled at medium-high heat to thicken the consistency slightly. In an empty mug, add the hot chocolate bomb and then the warm milk. One can use steam milk as you get a lot of foam and froth with your hot cocoa when you steam milk.
It also works to heat milk on the stovetop or in the microwave. Stir and enjoy! Wait for a bit; the marshmallows and cocoa mix will explode as the milk is poured on top of the bomb because the chocolate will melt and eventually break open the bomb.
2.3 Storing Hot Chocolate Bombs
Cocoa powder and chocolate are not shortly perishable foods. They wonโt decay or go stale even if you leave them at room temperature. They may become contaminated with mould or germs if not stored properly. However, it is more likely that the cocoa powder and chocolate will degrade far earlier than that.
DIY hot chocolate bombs, therefore, have a longer shelf life than many other sweets. These bombs can easily last for months when kept at the frigid temperature of a refrigerator. If you store the explosives carefully, you may keep them fresh and useable at room temperature for up to one to two months. You can store them in a refrigerator or freezer to extend the time they remain in your stock.
2.4 Best Chocolate For DIY Hot Chocolate Bomb
When making hot cocoa bombs, you may use almost any type of chocolate. The traditional semi-sweet milk chocolate bombs are an option. Alternatively, you might create them with white chocolate, a mixture of milk, butter, and sugar without any cocoa solids. For most individuals, semi-sweet chocolate is the standard. You can afterwards change the hot chocolateโs sweetness because chocolate isnโt specifically sweet by nature.
Alternatively, to make hot cocoa bombs, you can choose dark chocolate, which has a higher percentage of cocoa, if you want some bitterness to balance out the sweetness of the marshmallow and additional sugar.
It depends on how you like to enjoy your hot cocoa. You can also choose a chocolate combination. For instance, you could use milk chocolate to construct the mould and then pour white chocolate over it later. Alternatively, you might include mini marshmallows, cocoa powder, and chopped chocolate inside the balls.
The best approach to guarantee that your DIY hot chocolate bombs achieve the ideal shape and long-lasting crunch are first to temper chocolate. Melting your preferred milk or white chocolate is the first step in creating hot cocoa bombs.
Tempering chocolate raises its temperature to a specific level to give its molecules a well-organized structure. The outside of the chocolate is shiny and smooth due to its organized structure. Additionally, it provides chocolate with its well-known snap when broken. Tempered chocolate has an extremely solid underlying mechanism preventing it from melting quickly, even at room temperature.
The creation of chocolate moulds requires these characteristics. The outside will be sloppy and undesirable if the chocolate is out of its temper. Additionally, it wonโt dry as soon as you would like. After that, the chocolate mould will begin to melt from the heat of your fingers as you try to construct the hot cocoa bombs with it.
If you temper the chocolate in advance, working with it is considerably simple. The explosives will easily melt when hot milk is poured on top, exposing their internal dynamics. Even when you begin to create the bombs, they will keep their shape.
3. Things You Might Not Know About Hot Chocolate
3.1 It Goes Back to Thousands of Years
Before humans began munching on bars and brownies, liquid chocolate was the preferred method of consumption. According to historians, the Olmec civilization of southern Mexico was the first to roast the cacao treeโs fruit, grind it into a powder, and combine it with water and other ingredients. Archaeologists have discovered Olmec pottery with trace amounts of chocolate dating back to around 1700 BCE.
3.2 It Wasnโt Always Hot and Sweet
The Olmecs introduced the practice to the Mayans and Aztecs, who adopted it. The Mayans and Aztecs drank a bitter beverage they named โxocoatl,โ often brewed with chiles, water, and roasted maize and served lukewarm and foamy. Conquistadors introduced the Spanish to cacao drinks, and they sweetened them by incorporating cinnamon, sugar, and other spices into the mixture. However, this was still very different from the sweet blend that hot chocolate has become in modern times.
3.3 It Is Believed to Have Medicinal Properties
Early Mesoamericans created a drink made entirely of cacao, heavy in calories, antioxidants, and caffeine. Naturally, people assumed it had healing abilities. Cacao was a common beverage among Aztec warriors before battle. The beverage had a reputation for being an aphrodisiac. To stop widespread philandering, monks temporarily locked away the recipe after it arrived in Spain in the 16th century.
3.4ย It Was Served in The Gold Pitcher
After reading this, youโll be enamoured with the English tradition of serving hot chocolate. Businesses in the 17th century served hot beverages in porcelain, gold, and silver pitchers. In the affluent era, Limoges porcelain was the most preferred material. Hot chocolate, a decadent beverage popular in the 16th and 17th centuries has a history of igniting arguments over whether it belongs in the food or beverage category. Itโs thought that the debate also involved whether or not it was acceptable to eat it while fasting.
3.5 The Largest Best Cup Ever Made Was 880 Gallons
Children effectively made it happen. Three hundred local students and instructors created the pool-sized beverage in 2013 at Tampa Bayโs Museum of Science and Industry using 1100 pounds of cocoa and 87 gallons of powdered milk. Children used homemade catapults to launch marshmallows into the hot chocolate at the unveiling ceremony.
4. Hot Chocolate Today
Although you can find more authentic and gourmet variants in restaurants and cafรฉs, America tends to make hot chocolate somewhat thin and frequently produced by blending hot water with packets of powder. Chocolate was utilized as a special beverage and a therapy for stomach and liver ailments until the 19th century. Today, though, we merely regard this warm mixture as a beverage to savour.
Other nations have variations of melted chocolate and hot chocolate, such as spiced chocolate para mesa from Latin America, thick chocolate calda from Italy, and Spainโs thick chocolate a la Taza.
In the US, hot chocolate, hot cocoa, and hot cocoa bombs are now so widely consumed that it is sold in coffee vending machines. Coffee shops frequently carry richer, slightly thicker variants of all the chocolate and cocoa powders on their menus, which are available in packets and canisters for purchase.
The Italian chocolate densa is one of the thick hot chocolates offered in Europe. Hot chocolates of this type can be quite thick, frequently resembling warm chocolate pudding. German kinds are renowned for being extremely heavy and thick. In Spain, churros and hot chocolate are stapled breakfast items.
In Europe, there are even more varieties of thick hot cocoa. A โwarme chocoladeโ or โchocolat chaudโ is a drink served in some cafes in Belgium and other parts of Europe. A cup of hot milk and a tiny bowl of bittersweet chocolate chips are provided. Some powdered drinks in England are on par in thickness with those made of pure chocolate with hot milk.
Hot chocolate is still well-liked in Mexico. This hot chocolate is frequently sold in tablets or bars that can be melted into hot milk, water, or cream. Then it is blended until creamy foam forms on the beverage. Mexican hot chocolate also includes semi-sweet chocolate, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla in addition to the instant powder version. Mexican sweet cakes or pastries, churros and pan dulcet are frequently served alongside Mexican cinnamon hot chocolate.
Last Updated on by Himani Rawat
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