Tag: marshmallow

DIY Hot Cocoa Bombs
Hot Cocoa Bombs are super popular right now and that means they are VERY hard to find in stores. But, no worries because they are very easy to make! They are also a GREAT homemade gift. So, without further ado here is our DIY Hot Cocoa Bombs recipe.

Ingredients
- Baking chocolate or chocolate chips – Try the Classic Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips
- Hot Cocoa mix – Go super fancy with Ghirardelli Premium Cocoa Mix
- Mini marshmallows and/or add-ins – Try these mini rainbow marshmallows
- Silicone mold – Like this one on Amazon
Note: In the picture above, I have a holiday themed non-stick mini cake pan. While this technically works for cocoa bombs, you will see some pictured with sprinkles around the edges because they are MUCH harder to get out of the pan. I prefer using the silicone round mold.

Instructions

Step One: Melt Chocolate

This really is a simple process. First, you need to melt your chocolate. For my round mold, I use roughly 1 1/2 rounded tablespoons of chocolate chips for each half circle. You will have to judge for yourself how much chocolate you will need depending on the size of your shape/mold.

I melt my chocolate in the microwave. You can use the double-boiler method, but for me it’s faster and easier to use a microwave. Put all of your chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 30 seconds. Then mix the chocolate and put back in the microwave at 15 second increments stirring between each one until the chocolate is melted. It is very important NOT to overheat your chocolate in the microwave. It will burn quickly if you are not paying attention!

Step Two: Add Chocolate to Mold

Next, put a spoonful of chocolate into each mold and spread up around all the sides. Make sure to get good coverage. When all sections are full, put the mold in the refrigerator for about one hour or until the chocolate has hardened.

Step Three: Remove Hardened Chocolate

Once hardened, remove chocolate from the mold. With the silicone molds this is incredibly easy. You just gently push from the back and it peels right out. With the non-stick mini cake pan, I had to use the edge of a knife or offset spatula to pop the chocolate out of the mold. (This made the edges really uneven which is why I don’t recommend using the mini cake pan unless you have no other option, but I was able to make it work.)

Step Four: Fill with Cocoa Mix & Add-ins

Next, fill half of your chocolate shells with an appropriate amount of hot cocoa mix and mini marshmallows or add-ins.

Step Five: Attach Top Shell & Enjoy

The last step is to attach the top shell. To do this, I heated water in a bowl in the microwave until hot. I poured the water out and turned the bowl upside down and used it to melt the edge of the empty shell. Once the edges were nice a melty, I just placed them on top of the filled shells and gently turned them to seal the bomb.

Finally, put them in the fridge one last time to set the chocolate seam and you’re done! Viola, you have DIY Hot Cocoa Bombs!

There are so many fun ideas you could do with this. Add crushed candy canes, caramel candies or even a larger marshmallow in a fun shape if it fits! My kids go crazy for these and I have given them as gifts multiple times – they always impress. Most importantly, have fun!

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November 27, 2020
Easy Cat Mini Cookie Cakes
I’m going to admit something a little crazy about my daughter…she doesn’t like cake. I know, what kid doesn’t like cake? Don’t get me wrong, she’ll “suffer” through eating it at birthday parties and celebrations, but she definitely doesn’t prefer it. Last year for her birthday I made her a large Triple-Layer Cookie Cake with a chocolate whipped cream frosting which she absolutely loved. Well, now that she’s turning 9, she loves all things miniature. And cats. And tie-dye. So I decided to combine all three and make her these adorable Cat Mini Cookie Cakes!

The good news is they’re super easy to make and use easy to find ingredients. They were a big hit with family and friends and most importantly my daughter. She LOVED these mini cookie cakes and already asked for me to make them again for her next year. Read on for instructions and ingredient list.

Ingredients

-Cookies – you need 3 for each cake (One of the best things about these cookie cakes is how versatile they are. You can make them smaller, larger, two layer, etc. – choose any cookie size and flavor you want!)
-Frosting – simple buttercream or can of white frosting – I used this kind Buy at Target
-Mini Marshmallows
-Chocolate Chips
-Chocolate sprinkles – Buy on Amazon
-Pink round sprinkles – similar to these Buy on Amazon
-Any fun shaped sprinkles

Tools

-Cake Icing Tool, like this Wilton Dessert Decorator – Buy on Amazon
-Small Offset Spatula, we like this reasonably priced one from Ateco – Buy on Amazon

Mini Cookie Cake Instructions

To make this year’s celebration easier, I decided to buy cookies instead of make them. My local grocery store has a bakery and I figured they would be more uniform in size than homemade cookies. I purchased three different flavors for a bit of added fun and because I made each mini cookie cake with three “layers”. I bought standard chocolate chip cookies, M&M candy cookies and chocolate chocolate chip cookies. You could make your own of course, it’s up to you!

Next up was frosting. I never use canned frosting, but due to time constraints and some home construction I decided to make my life easier. Canned frosting can be very oily which is one of the reasons I usually don’t use it. To make it more of a stiff piping consistency you can add powdered sugar and mix. I then divided it into different bowls and mixed in pink, blue, and yellow food coloring.

Once you have the frosting ready, assembling your mini cookies cakes is easy. All you need to do is pipe or spread some frosting on one cookie, place the second cookie on top. Then add another layer of frosting and finally the third cookie on top of that. You will have a stack of three cookies with a layer of frosting in between them.

Decorating your Mini Cookie Cakes

Once all of your cookie cakes are assembled, it is time to decorate. To get the swirled color effect, I placed a blob of pink, a blob of blue and a blob of yellow frosting on the top cookie. Then, I used my offset spatula in a swirling motion to spread it around the cookie. Sometimes I only used two colors to get different shades and sometimes I swirled more than others just to get a variation in color. NOTE: the more you swirl, the more the colors will start to blend so try to only move your spatula once or twice if possible.
Next, I added the cat details. For the ears, I cut a mini marshmallow in half and pressed the tops together to make the point of the ears. I also used mini marshmallows for the white mouth parts by cutting them in half and keeping them more rounded. For the eyes, I placed two chocolate chips upside down in the frosting. For the nose I used a pink, flat sprinkle. And finally, for the whiskers I used two long chocolate sprinkles. Extra: For a girly touch, I added a flower sprinkle by an ear on each one.

And that’s it! Have fun assembling these adorable cats for a special cat lover you know. Then, wait for everyone to gush over how cute they are!

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October 29, 2020