Kid-friendly Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bombs Recipe - Sticky Fingers Cooking
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Recipe: Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bombs

Recipe: Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bombs

Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bombs

by Erin Fletter
Photo by Bhushan Thakurdwarkar/Shutterstock.com
prep time
10 minutes
cook time
2 minutes
makes
4-6 servings

Fun Food Story

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Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bombs

Frozen hot cocoa bombs are a fun way to make delicious, chocolaty hot cocoa from the freezer to your mug!

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Chef Erin, Food-Geek-in-Chief

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

  • chill :

    to cool, not freeze, food or drink by putting it on ice or in a refrigerator.

  • freeze :

    to lower the temperature of a liquid or solid food below its freezing point to change its properties or to preserve it.

  • microwave :

    to heat or cook food or liquid quickly in a microwave oven, which uses high-frequency electromagnetic waves to generate heat in the food's water molecules.

Equipment Checklist

  • Medium microwave-safe bowl
  • Potholder
  • Dry measuring cups
  • Liquid measuring cup
  • Measuring spoons
  • Wooden spoon
  • Paper towel or dish towel
  • Ice cream scoop
  • Baking sheet or plate
  • Parchment paper
scale
1X
2X
3X
4X
5X
6X
7X

Ingredients

Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bombs

  • 2 C dark chocolate chips or chunks **(for CHOCOLATE ALLERGY sub carob chips; for DAIRY/NUT/SOY ALLERGY use Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips)**
  • 1 C heavy whipping cream **(for DAIRY ALLERGY sub dairy-free/nut-free whipping cream OR coconut cream)**
  • 1 T granulated sugar
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract **(for GLUTEN ALLERGY use certified gluten-free pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla flavor—check label)**
  • 1 T honey, if needed
  • To make the hot cocoa, per serving:
  • 1 C milk
  • 1 frozen salted hot cocoa bomb

Food Allergen Substitutions

Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bombs

  • Chocolate: Substitute carob chips for chocolate chips.
  • Nut: Use Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips.
  • Soy: Use Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips.
  • Dairy: Use Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips. Substitute dairy-free/nut-free whipping cream OR coconut cream (will not whip the same as heavy whipping cream). 
  • Gluten/Wheat: Use certified gluten-free pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla flavor.

Instructions

Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bombs

1.
intro

This recipe creates hot cocoa bombs that will be frozen and used to make hot cocoa.

2.
measure + stir + microwave

Measure and stir together 2 cups chocolate chips, 1 cup heavy whipping cream, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp paper towel and microwave for 1 minute. Pause to stir the chips and the cream. Microwave for another 30 seconds. Pause to stir again. Microwave for 15 seconds. Stir until all the chocolate has melted. Then carefully remove the bowl from the microwave with a potholder. If the chocolate seizes (gets grainy and thick), stir in 1 tablespoon of honey.

3.
stir + cover + chill

Stir in 1 pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours in the fridge.

4.
scoop + freeze

After 2 hours of chill time, use an ice cream scoop to scoop balls of chocolate mixture onto a parchment-lined sheet pan or plate. Freeze for at least 8 hours!

5.
add + microwave

Making hot cocoa! For each serving, add 1 Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bomb to the bottom of a mug. Heat 1 C milk separately in a liquid measuring cup for 1 minute or more in the microwave, then carefully remove the cup.

6.
pour + stir

Pour the hot milk over the Frozen Salted Hot Cocoa Bomb and stir!

Surprise Ingredient: Chocolate + Cocoa!

back to recipe
Photo by New Africa/Shutterstock.com

Hi! I'm Chocolate!

"Hello! Let me introduce myself! I can be dark brown, light brown, or even white. I'm sometimes bitter, sometimes a little sweet, and often very sweet. I add flavor and excitement to many other foods! Have you guessed yet? I'm Chocolate! You may be familiar with me from candy bars or chocolate sundaes, but I can liven up many other foods, too, including chili, butter, and milk!"

History

  • The cacao (kahKOW) tree is native to equatorial South America and the rainforests of Mesoamerica. It was first used 5,300 years ago by indigenous people in South America. Mesoamericans who lived in the rainforests of Mexico and Central America domesticated the tree about 1,500 years later. They drank chocolate as a bitter beverage—far from the sweet treat most of us are familiar with today. 
  • The Mayan people of Central and South America used cocoa as currency and as medicine: it was very valuable, just like vanilla! In fact, it was so precious that they made counterfeit cocoa beans out of clay and avocado seeds!
  • The Aztec people are a nomadic tribe in Northern Mexico. When the Aztec empire began to expand, they demanded that the Mayan people pay tribute to them through gifts of cacao. 
  • The Aztec people ruled until Spaniards arrived and conquered the land and its people. The Spanish explorers took cacao beans back to Europe, where they experimented by adding cinnamon and sugar to sweeten it. For a long time, only aristocratic people enjoyed chocolate.
  • Princess Maria Theresa married Louis the 16th from France and gave him chocolate as a wedding present! Demand for chocolate soon grew very fast, and as a result, people were enslaved on plantations to grow cacao to meet the high demand.
  • In 1847, Joseph Fry invented the first chocolate bar. By 1907, Hershey was manufacturing millions of chocolate kisses each day.  
  • Cacao trees grow best in the rainforest underneath the branches of taller trees. However, they won't bear fruit until they are at least three to five years old. 
  • Most early Spanish sources refer to chocolate as "cacahuatl" (cah-cah-Hwat), which translates to "cacao water."
  • The word chocolate comes from a combination of a Mayan word for hot, "chocol," and an Aztec word for water, "atl."

How Chocolate is Made

  • All chocolate comes from the beans of the cacao tree. Cacao trees produce pods containing pulp-covered seeds. Before cacao is processed, it would be hard for most of us to recognize it as chocolate! This is because the pulp-covered seeds taste bitter and raw and look nothing like the chocolate products we see in stores.
  • The seeds go through a process called fermentation, and then they are dried and made into nibs before being turned into chocolate. 
  • A cacao pod contains about 30 to 50 almond-sized seeds—enough to make about seven milk chocolate candy bars! 
  • After roasting and grinding cocoa beans, chocolate liquor is left, which is about equal parts cocoa solids and cocoa butter. After the cocoa butter is mostly extracted, the result is dry cocoa solids. Cocoa powder is the powdered form. Natural cocoa is a light brown color and tastes bitter. 

  • Dutch chemist Coenraad van Houten created the "Dutch process" method in the early 19th century to reduce the acidity in natural cocoa powder by treating the beans with alkaline salts. As a result, Dutch process cocoa is less bitter and has a dark brown color.

How to Enjoy Cocoa & Chocolate

  • You can add unsweetened cocoa to milk with sugar, honey, or stevia for a delicious and warming beverage. You can also add it to smoothies for a delicious chocolaty taste and an extra hit of magnesium and polyphenols. 
  • Chocolate comes in many forms: bars, kisses, chips, powder, shavings, puddings, syrups, and sauces.
  • Unconventional chocolate flavor pairings: cardamom, lavender, wasabi, chili, chipotle, sea salt, lime, matcha, curry, ginger, mint, figs, fennel, sesame, parmesan, and Earl Grey tea. Seriously, what doesn't go well with chocolate?! Can you think of any other fun and delicious pairings?

Nutrition

  • Dark chocolate helps protect your heart, blood, and brain! To get the full health benefits of chocolate, choose at least 85% cocoa content or higher. The higher percentage makes the chocolate more bitter, but those bitter compounds, called polyphenols, are antioxidants that provide several health benefits. Many people prefer very dark chocolate!
  • Polyphenols help prevent heart disease by maintaining healthy blood pressure levels, keeping vessels flexible and allowing the blood in our body to flow easier (good circulation), and reducing inflammation. In addition, they help control blood sugar levels, lower cancer risk, and boost immunity. Polyphenols also promote good digestion.  
  • Cocoa is a great source of magnesium. We need magnesium for good health! For strong bones, healthy teeth, and as a building block for proteins within the body.
  • Cocoa can protect our teeth?! Cacao contains antibacterial elements that fight tooth decay. However, this is true with unsweetened cocoa only, as most mass-produced chocolate has a lot of sugar. We know what sugar does to our teeth—it causes decay! 
  • One study has shown that the smell of chocolate may actually relax you by increasing theta waves in the brain!

History of Hot Chocolate!

Photo by vasanty/Shutterstock.com
  • Hot chocolate originated with the chocolate drink made by the Mayans around 500 BCE. They mixed chocolate seeds, ground into a paste, with water, cornmeal, and chili peppers. They would usually have the bitter beverage cold. Later, the Aztecs in Mesoamerica drank both cold and hot chocolate mixed with vanilla.
  • Cortés brought chocolate and the method for making hot chocolate back to Spain from Mexico when he returned in 1528. Initially, only wealthy Spaniards could afford to consume chocolate and drinks made from it. Eventually, chocolate spread across Europe, and sugar was added to make the chocolate less bitter. Then, sometime in the 17th century, milk was added to the mix, and hot chocolate became more like the version we drink today.
  • In the country of Trinidad and Tobago, they drink "cocoa tea," which is not really tea. Spices, like cinnamon and nutmeg, are added with chopped dark chocolate or cocoa powder (or both) and sweetener to hot milk and simmered for a few minutes until the chocolate is melted and everything is dissolved and blended.
  • Frozen hot chocolate was invented in the 1970s by an ice cream store owner, Steve Harrell, who wanted to enjoy the flavor of hot chocolate during the warm summer months.

  • Hot cocoa bombs have become popular in recent years. They are made of chocolate or cocoa and are often hollow with mini marshmallows inside. Hot milk is poured over them to create hot cocoa at any time!

Let's Learn About Mesoamerica!

Photo by WitR/Shutterstock.com
  • Avocado, tomato, and chocolate. Your kids are likely familiar with at least some of these food items. But do they know that they originally came from Mexico and are based on words from the Nahua people? Nahuatl words "ahuacatl," "tomatl," and "chocolatl" were eventually adapted and adopted into English.
  • The Nahua people were an ethnic group found in Mexico with deep cultural roots, and members of one Nahua group were the Aztecs.
  • The Olmec were the first major Mesoamerican people and culture. They settled on a river city that archaeologists refer to as San Lorenzo. Historians consider the Olmecs to be one of the greatest civilizations in history. They advanced as artists, architects, engineers, traders, and sculptors without the benefits of migration or influence from other civilizations. Today, much of their culture has been lost, and some of the few artifacts that remain are stone carvings, wooden artifacts, and ruined cities.
  • Civilizations that came after the Olmecs were influenced by them and borrowed ideas from them, including the Aztecs, Veracruz, Maya, and Toltec. 
  • Mesoamerican cultures had a 260-day calendar for rituals and a 365-day calendar for agriculture.
  • People across Mesoamerica played a ritual sport called "ballgame" (in English). Courts were situated in the sacred precinct of a city. Players passed solid rubber balls to each other (no hands allowed!), and the object was to hit them between markers.
  • The people relied heavily on corn, beans, and squash for food. They referred to them as the Three Sisters.
  • Mesoamericans spoke more than 125 different languages.
  • Mesoamericans used pictographic, ideographic, or picture writing. For example, for "I love apple," they would draw an eye, a heart, and an apple.

The Yolk's On You

"Knock, knock!" 

"Who’s there?" 

"Imogen."

"Imogen who?" 

"I can’t imogen life without chocolate!"

Lettuce Joke Around

What do you call people who like to drink hot chocolate all year long? 

Cocoa-Nuts!

THYME for a Laugh

What do you call stolen cocoa? 

Hot chocolate!

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