Hot Chocolate Bombs

This was my first attempt to make hot chocolate bombs as I'd love to gift them to family and friends this Christmas. They are chocolate shells filled with marshmallows and fudge cubes (though you can fill them with whatever you'd like). Once completed, you can just pop them in a mug and top with hot milk for an indulgent hot chocolate. Next time I'm going to use a larger mould so I can fit even more toppings inside.

I'd love to see your improved versions, so please comment if you make them (or have any useful tips!).

Ingredients

• Dark chocolate (I used 200g)
• Toppings (I used mini marshmallows and fudge cubes)

Equipment

• A thermapen, or similar thermometer is useful when melting the chocolate.
• A microwaveable bowl.
• Semi-sphere chocolate mould.
• Cooling tray.
• Palette knife.
• Chopping board & knife.
• Spatula.

As I'm not a natural chocolatier, I wanted to avoid having to temper my chocolate. I had read that as long as you don't heat dark chocolate above 35c/95f, the chocolate would remain tempered. I was dubious, but it seems to have worked.

To achieve this, I cut my dark chocolate up into small pieces and placed into a microwaveable bowl (apparently a plastic bowl is best for this as it doesn't retain as much heat, but I only had a glass bowl to hand).

I heated the chocolate in 10-second blasts, stirring each time. Once most, but not all, of my chocolate had melted, I removed the bowl from the microwave and stirred the chocolate until the rest of the chocolate had melted.

Once content that the chocolate was melted and still in-temper, I poured the chocolate into each mould. I then moved the mould around to distribute the chocolate and scraped the excess off the top of the mould. I then turned it upside down on a wire rack that was above a metal tray covered in foil to catch excess chocolate.

I left the chocolate to set for about 10 minutes and then repeated the process with the remaining chocolate to make the shells a bit thicker.

I then left the chocolate to harden again for approximately an hour.

Once the chocolate had hardened, I gently turned the mould out to release the shapes.

I popped marshmallows and fudge cubes in one half and then dipped the other half in the remaining chocolate (heated in the microwave again to melt it). I then sandwiched the two halves together to form the 'bomb'.

I then left the chocolate to harden again. Once hardened, you can start to use them. I simply popped mine in a mug and poured over hot milk.