Are you in need of an awesome neighbor Christmas gift idea? Well, you’re totally in luck! Today I’m sharing this salted caramel hot chocolate bomb tutorial (with homemade ‘mallows, of course). They’re a little bit of work, but I’m willing to bet that your friends will appreciate a little homemade goodness.
To make these hot chocolate bombs, you’ll need a few things. First, some small wooden sticks or dowels of your choice (I used these bamboo sticks from Amazon). You could use small barbecue skewers, if you’d like.
Next, you’ll need some small candy cups (or mini cupcake liners). I found these super cute Wilton cups from Target. But of course, use whatever you’d like! Just make sure they’re smaller than a normal cupcake liner. I use this on the bottom of the bombs to prevent them from sticking to the bag.
You’ll also need some little gift bags. The size that you need will depend on how many bombs you plan on sticking in a bag. I put three in each bag and used something similar to these.
Lastly, you’ll need some ribbon of your choice. Of course, if you aren’t planning on giving these away and don’t want them on sticks, then you can just stick to using these three recipes below to make these!
If you want to make homemade mallows (which I very highly recommend), I used this recipe from Alton Brown. I know that homemade marshmallows are intimidating, but I promise they are so easy! You’ll want to do this before you make the hot chocolate cubes so they have time to set up. I added sprinkles to the top of the mallows before they were set, but the sprinkles aren’t necessary.
For the hot chocolate bombs, I used this recipe from King Arthur Flour. King Arthur always has amazing recipes, by the way. They’re always a good, solid resource! Just a note for making these hot chocolate bombs. The recipe says to use an 8×8 pan. Since the actual size of each 8×8 pan can vary, I would recommend measuring the sides of your pan and dividing the total width of each side by six, then cutting based on that result. That way, each cube comes out perfect instead of relying on their measurement suggestion of cutting them into 1 1/4 inches. At the end, you’ll have 36 perfectly even cubes. After you are done making the cubes, just put them in the fridge overnight to harden before you add the caramel sauce.
I made this salted caramel sauce from Sally’s Baking Addiction to put on the top, because isn’t everything better with salted caramel? After I made it, I let it set up at room temperature for 15-20 minutes. That way, I was still able to drizzle with it but it wasn’t unbelievably hot to melt the chocolate. I placed the chocolate blocks on a cooling rack that was sitting on top of a parchment paper-lined baking sheet for easy cleanup. Then I drizzled away! I topped each block with a tiny bit of this pure flake finishing sea salt by Jacobsen Salt Co. It is my absolute favorite!
After letting the blocks sit at room temp for 30 minutes or so, they were carefully placed back in the fridge for the caramel to set up. Let them stay in there at least an hour before you start assembling the bombs.
I guess it doesn’t matter which order you place them on the sticks, but I put the marshmallow on top, followed by the chocolate cube on the bottom. Then I placed them in the candy cups, placed them in the bags, and tied the ribbon on top!
You’ll want to mention to your gift recipients a few things. First, they will need to store the bombs in the fridge, and eat them within a week. They need to be placed in a mug of hot milk and stirred well.
I hope you like this gift idea, and I hope you are all having an awesome holiday season!
