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Valentine's Day Hot Chocolate Bombs are the best version of the latest hot chocolate bomb craze! Made with a delicious combo of strawberry and white chocolate, these heart shaped treats are the perfect way to warm up with your special someone!
Valentine's Day Hot Chocolate Bombs are coming your way!!
I probably don't need to convince you that hot chocolate bombs are already amazing, but this one is definitely extra fun (hello, it's pink!)
Given most of us will be staying home for Valentine's Day this year, and this makes a really fun treat to have with brunch or as a cozy way to end a romantic dinner for two. It's even extra special to share with friends, family and kids (don't forget to package them up with my free label printout!)
How to make valentines day hot chocolate bombs
The process is quite easy. Be sure to watch the video on how I make these!
To start, you will need the following tools:
- Heart shaped silicone molds or round silicone molds
- A small offset spatula , butter knife or spoon
- Chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips
- A tiny dab of coconut oil (if you are using oil or powder food coloring, you can skip this. I'll explain more below)
- Pink or red gel food coloring
- I made these with strawberry milk powder but you could use regular hot cocoa mix if you wanted to
- Mini dehydrated marshmallows
- Silver luster dust to add some sparkle (optional)
- Sprinkles (optional)
If you are planning on gifting these, here are the items I would recommend –
More on the ingredients
Strawberry milk is one of those things that will bring you right back to your childhood. I also love the pairing of strawberry flavor with white chocolate. Most of all, the strawberry milk mix makes this Valentine's day drink the prettiest shade of pink!
If you're not a fan of this flavor though, definitely feel free to swap it out for regular hot chocolate mix.
You may have noticed that I use regular mini marshmallows in my other hot chocolate bomb recipe. For the this version, I went with dehydrated mini marshmallows.
Why?
The heart shaped molds I used are on the smaller side and do not have much room for regular marshmallows. The dehydrated ones fit perfectly with this mold.
If you end up using a different mold or shape, and normal marshmallows fit in the shell, obviously feel free to use those!
How to color white chocolate with gel food coloring
Pink is the ultimate color for Valentine's Day, so I really wanted to make the shells match the theme!
But the problem is, white chocolate is it's very finicky. Since white chocolate is made purely with cocoa butter, the structure of white chocolate will break if you add liquid or gel dye to it after it's melted.
White chocolate requires specialized food coloring, either an oil or powder, to make it colorful. But, I didn't want to have to buy special food coloring for this project, so I got creative.
If you add an oil or fat to chocolate, it doesn't break (as long as you don't throw off the ratios tooooo much).
So I figured, what if I added color to the oil first?
I mixed a small dab (less than ¼ teaspoon or so) of coconut oil with some pink gel food coloring and mixed it thoroughly.
Once the white chocolate was melted, I added the dyed coconut oil to the chocolate and voila! Worked like a charm!
I'm glad I fell upon this method too, because I prefer to use real white chocolate for this recipe, vs. candy melts, although you certainly could use candy melts if you don't mind the taste!
TL:DR - do not attempt to mix liquid or gel food coloring into melted white chocolate directly. Use an oil based or powdered food dye, or the coconut oil method!
Tips for Filling and Handling the molds
- Once you have the chocolate melted and colored, you can begin to fill the molds. I found that a generous 2 teaspoons was the PERFECT amount for each cavity of the geometric heart shaped mold. If you are using 2.5" round molds, you'll want to increase the recipe and use about 1 tablespoon of chocolate per cavity.
- Spread the chocolate up the sides of the mold and make sure there are no bare spots, then tap the mold on the surface to settle the chocolate again.
- If you allow the molds to sit for a few minutes, it helps the chocolate to thicken and you can easily go back to layer up the sides of the mold again.
- To remove the molds, I found it was easiest to stretch the mold away from the sides by tugging the mold around the cavity. This helps to loosen the chocolate and prevent breakage!
- Then, while you have the side stretched, use your fingers to push the bottom of the cavity up so that the chocolate pops out of the top.
- You may see a couple of pieces crack off the edge of the bomb, but that’s OK because we’re going to melt the edges a bit anyway.
Assembling
The best way that I've found to assemble the two halves together is by using a small plate and heating it up.
Cover the plate with water and microwave it for 30 seconds, or run it under hot, hot water for the same amount of time. Dry off the plate and it becomes the perfect tool to melt the edges of the shells.
I tried using a pan on low heat and it melted the chocolate too fast, so the gentle heat of a warmed plate is the best method.
Once assembled, feel free to decorate with silver luster dust, drizzled white chocolate and sprinkles!
Storing & Gifting
When sealed in an airtight container or zip lock bag, the Valentine's Day hot chocolate bombs should last at least a couple weeks stored in a cool, dry place. If it’s warmer than 70 degrees you might want to keep them in the fridge because the chocolate could soften or melt. If there are any holes in the chocolate and the bag isn’t fully sealed, the dehydrated marshmallows may soften or get stale.
The best way to gift this chocolatey treat is by placing it in a cello bag, either with a self stick seal or you can use a heat sealer. If you bake & gift a lot and you HAVEN’T invested in a heat sealer yet, I highly recommend it!!
I made these custom labels which you can download & print out here.
Valentine's Day Hot Chocolate Bombs
Valentine's Day Hot Chocolate Bombs are the best version of the latest hot chocolate bomb craze! Made with a delicious combo of strawberry and white chocolate, these heart shaped treats are the perfect way to warm up with your special someone!
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 3 bombs 1x
Ingredients
For 3 Heart Shaped Hot Chocolate Bombs (for more, scale accordingly)
- ¾ c white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate + more for decorating
- pink food coloring (REFER TO INSTRUCTIONS, STEP 2)
- 6 tsp strawberry milk powder
- ⅓ c dehydrated mini marshmallows
- silver luster dust (optional)
- sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler.
- To color the chocolate, you can do the following:
- Use powdered food dye
- Use an oil based food dye
- Mix a dab of coconut oil (less than ¼ tsp) with gel food coloring separately, then add it to the melted chocolate (this is the method I used and it worked just fine!) DO NOT add liquid or gel food coloring directly into melted white chocolate.
- Mix the chocolate and food coloring well until fully incorporated.
- Spoon a generous 2 teaspoons of chocolate into each cavity of the mold.
- Using a small offset spatula, spoon or butter knife, spread the chocolate up the sides of the mold ensuring every bit is completely covered.
- Give the mold a couple of taps on the surface to settle the chocolate, and set aside for about 5 minutes.
- After that time, spread the chocolate up the sides again to thicken the sides of the shell.
- Tap the mold against the surface another time.
- Place the mold into the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes until fully set.
- To remove the shells, tug the corners of the molds until the sides loosen. Use your fingers to push under the mold to pop the chocolate shell out.
- Grab a small plate and add water to cover the surface. Microwave for 30 seconds or until very hot. You can also run the plate under hot water for a minute. Wipe the plate down and dry it off.
- Place one of the halves, edge side down on the plate, and move it around to soften and melt the rim.
- Fill with 2 teaspoons of strawberry milk powder and some marshmallows.
- Repeat step 12 with the other half of the bomb and seal the two halves together.
- To decorate, drizzle one side with melted white chocolate and sprinkles.
- Allow chocolate to set, then package if desired.
- When ready to drink, place the bomb in the bottom of a mug and pour over 6oz of hot milk. Stir, enjoy!
Notes
Recipe by Owlbbaking.com
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Category: Candy
- Method: None
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 279
- Sugar: 37 g
Debbie
Can’t wait to make these for Valentine day! How would you decorate the round dark chocolate bombs with luster dust? Would you use silver, gold, or pink, & how do you do it on round ones?
Liz
Hi Debbie! I used the luster dust dry; I simply dipped the paintbrush into the dust and brushed it all over the bomb. For a round bomb, I would recommend setting it in a cupcake wrapper while you dusted it to avoid fingerprints. For dark chocolate, I think any of those colors would look really nice!! Pink would look especially festive for Valentine's Day! 🙂