FAQ – Hot Chocolate Balls

We ship any size retail order within the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands for $8 and free shipping on orders over $69.

This is a recent change as a result of increased postage costs. Thanks for your understanding.

Our gift boxes are not part of the flat rate or free shipping. The shipping for gift boxes is calculated based on box contents.

Please info@chocolatesu.com contact us for shipping of bulk and special orders.

Hot chocolate balls are solid confections with a unique formulation which makes them pretty rugged and amazingly resistant to heat. We pack each order in tissue so nothing shifts in the box during transport.

However, if you live in a particularly warm climate (South Texas, Miami, etc.) and need your hot chocolate fix in August, we can ship your order with some cold packs for a small additional fee. Contact us at info@chocolatesu.com and we will work with you to make sure everything arrives in perfect condition.

Unfortunately, even under the best shipping circumstances, something could go horrible wrong, like sudden changes in the weather or a poor decision by the delivery service… so if you have concerns that the contents of the box may be melted (box was left on the radiator in the mail room, a freak heat wave in October and the box was in the sun on the porch all afternoon, etc.), here is what to do:

1. Bring the box in to a cool room and place it UNOPENED, and label side up on the table for a couple of hours (or better overnight) to cool down.

2. Carefully open the box and assess the Hot Chocolate Balls

a. If they look good (roundish, encased in colorful foil) but are still soft to the touch, let them sit undisturbed in the box several more hours or overnight and they should solidify. Use and enjoy!

b. If there is a hot, melted mess squished all inside that box, contact us at info@chocolatesu.com and we will work with you to make it right.

Hot Chocolate Balls are solid, chocolate confections that you use to make a full 8 ounce mug of real, decadent hot chocolate. The Hot Chocolate Ball base is made from couverture chocolate, cocoa powder and honey. We offer six (6) standard flavors and a sugar free variety. We occasionally also offer limited edition seasonal flavors.

There are actually many ways to make hot chocolate with our Hot Chocolate Balls. See here for details.

From the instructions included with the balls:

How to make the perfect cup of Hot Chocolate

1. Unwrap your hot chocolate ball.
2. Drop ball into a heat-proof mug.
3. Microwave for 20 seconds to soften chocolate ball.
4. Add 8 oz. of milk (for an indulgent experience, add 6 oz.)
5. Microwave until hot, but not scalding, about 90 seconds.
6. Stir Vigorously. Sip, Savor, and Enjoy!

Each ball is wrapped in a colored foil, and that foil is color coded to the flavor. Each sleeve should contain a card that describes how to make the hot chocolate on one side and the color code/ingredients list on the other.

In case you did not receive a card, or have misplaced the card in the frenzy to make up a mug…

Foil color = Flavor

Our standard flavors are as follows:

-Gold = Original Dark Chocolate

-Copper (Orange) = Original Milk Chocolate

-Red = Aztec

-Blue = Mocha

-Green = Mint

-Purple = Salted Caramel

-Silver = Sugar Free

We will also carry Limited Edition flavors in special foils as well. In all case we included a card that will provide a color key for the Hot Chocolate Balls.

Please see the ingredients listed with each flavor. The only major allergen is milk in the varieties that are made with milk chocolate. Our chocolates are no longer made with soy lecithin as our source has switched to sunflower lecithin.

It should be noted that while Hot Chocolate Balls do not contain tree nuts or peanuts, we do not certify our process as nut or peanut free since we share our commercial kitchen space. We also can not certify our process as gluten-free for the same reason.

Also, our chocolate manufacturer processes ALMONDS in their facility; however, no almonds come in contact with any of the equipment used to make or process chocolate.

Vegetarian – None of our Hot Chocolate Balls contain meat or gelatin. Several flavors do NOT contain dairy (Original Dark, Mint, Aztec and Midnights), but they do contain honey (not vegan) in the base.

All flavors would be appropriate for lacto-ova vegetarians. Please note that some flavors contain milk, and consult the ingredients list for specifics.

Our products are not certified Kosher or Halal.

Well, sure… They ARE chocolate. BUT, they are a solid 1¼ oz ball of dense, chocolate-ness and can be pretty hard to bite into. The Hot Chocolate Balls are really formulated to make a perfect, single serving of decadent hot chocolate, so we recommend getting some milk or your house’s favorite milk-like product (almond milk, soy milk, Lactaid, etc.) and making them into hot chocolate.

You will be so much happier that you did!

Couverturechocolate is a very high-quality chocolate that contains a higher percentage of cocoa butter (32–39%) than baking or eating chocolate. Basically, couverture chocolate is the best quality chocolate out there. We use ONLY E.Guittard couverture chocolate and Guittard cocoa powder to make Hot Chocolate Balls, because we think E. Guittard is the best of the best!

Hot Chocolate Balls are formulated to make a creamy, decadent, not too sweet cup of hot chocolate in about 2 minutes… it is a very balanced, yet intense chocolate flavor.

The problem with melting a chocolate bar into hot milk is twofold. First, chocolate bars can be of varying quality and composition. Often inexpensive chocolate bars (the kind by the register at the grocery store) are waxy or oily when melted because they contain little or no actual cocoa butter and leave a filmy residue in the cup and in your mouth. The second issue is that even high quality chocolate bars are formulated to be eaten out of hand with no dilution in milk, so the chocolate flavor is much less intense and the flavor profile comes across your palate as particularly sweet.

Our stocking stuffer for the naughty and nice. Our "lumps of coal" are actually our Milk Chocolate Hot Chocolate Balls, shaped like pieces of coal and wrapped in shiny black foil. Each package comes with 3 lumps of coal, and a large tag to remind them they have been very naughty.

Oh, and to the few who have never heard of this tradition. (external link, please come back!)

We are taking a short break from the Saturday Morning Cereal Balls (SMCBs) to concentrate on new flavors and other aspects of our business. This is not a good bye forever. They are just taking a little hiatus.

We are continuing our Marshmallow SMCB flavor, rebranded as Milk Chocolate with Marshmallows. You can find them by following the link.

If you are new here and have no idea what a "Saturday Morning Cereal Ball" is, here is the text from the prior FAQ:

Saturday Morning Cereal Balls (SMCBs) are Hot Chocolate Balls (HCBs) with "stuff" inside the ball.
The current versions of SMCBs are all made with the Milk Chocolate Hot Chocolate Ball formula. The balls have the same amount of chocolate and flavoring as a regular hot chocolate ball, but with more "stuff" so they are also a bit larger (still will fit in a mug for heating). The preparation for SMCBs is the same as HCBs, but in addition the "stuff" inside the the ball comes out and floats to the top giving you a little snack with your hot chocolate!

Milk Chocolate with Marshmallows (Sometimes just referred to as Marshmallow) are the Milk Chocolate Hot Chocolate Balls formula with little dehydrated marshmallows added inside the ball.

They are slightly bigger than regular hot chocolate balls to accommodate all those yummy marshmallows.

When you heat and stir some will melt, but most will remain with lovely floating marshmallows on top of your hot chocolate!

Well honey is some pretty amazing stuff… It is a liquid sweetener at room temperature with a very low water content that works perfectly in our process of making Hot Chocolate Balls. Further, honey has inherent antimicrobial properties that mean the Hot Chocolate Balls will last practically forever.

As for the flavor, the honey adds a very subtle sweetness that lets the chocolate be the real star in the Hot Chocolate Balls.

The Sugar-Free Hot Chocolate Balls are delicious, so unfortunately, they are not fat free (real cocoa butter tastes good!) or calorie free (again, real cocoa butter tastes good!).

We use Guittard semi-sweet sugar free chocolate that is made with maltitol as the sweetener in the chocolate and replace the honey in our standard Hot Chocolate Ball recipe with maltitol syrup. The cocoa powder and vanilla are the same in all of our Hot Chocolate Ball products.

Variety is the spice of life! We are constantly making new flavors, and while some flavors don't work out (carrot cake hot chocolate is NOT good!), others we like, so we decide to make them to sell. We don't have unlimited space, however, so we try to keep our limited edition flavors to 3, and when we get bored making them (or find a flavor we like more) we swap them out.

If you see a limited edition you like, grab it! It could be gone before you know it!

The gift boxes are not available for shipping discounts at this time. We didn't want to change our current free shipping and flat rates for our other products so shipping is calculated based on weight and the method you wish to choose for shipping.

All boxes ship via priority mail or faster depending on what shipping method you choose when you checkout.

If you are buying a gift box and other items, we suggest purchasing the gift box separately if you want to choose an alternate to shipping using USPS Priority mail.

If you order more than one Gift Boxes at a time to go to a single address (currently the only option as we don't have multi-address shipping) those Gift Boxes will go INSIDE a shipping box and the Gift Boxes will arrive in a single box. That box will be a regular shipping box, but will have the fun fancy boxes inside!

If you happen to order so many that we dont' have a shipping box to handle all of them, we'll ship them together in as few boxes as possible.

The Gift Box is a custom printed shipping box. The recipient will get a cute shipping box that says "Your Hot Chocolate has arrived!"

They will NOT be surprised that they are getting hot chocolate :)

The gift box is the package and there is currently no "Gift Wrap" option.

Please note: This is a shipping box. There is a possiblity that there may be scuffing and other marks from standard handling, rest assured, the hot chocolate and other items will arrive beautifully.

For the Hot Chocolate Balls in our gift box, the only major allergen is milk in the varieties that are made with milk chocolate. Our chocolates are no longer made with soy lecithin as our source has switched to sunflower lecithin.

It should be noted that while Hot Chocolate Balls do not contain tree nuts or peanuts, we do not certify our process as nut or peanut free since we share our commercial kitchen space. We also can not certify our process as gluten-free for the same reason.

Also, our chocolate manufacturer processes ALMONDS in their facility; however, no almonds come in contact with any of the equipment used to make or process chocolate.

The marshmallows in our gift box are manufactured in a facility that handles peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, wheat, soy and coconut. They are made with gelatin, so they are not vegetarian.

Well, the press release type answer is… When we thought up Hot Chocolate Balls, we formed the prototypes during recipe development with a small ice cream scoop, so the shape was essentially a sphere. And we started referring to them as “balls”. Then we wrapped them in candy foil and they looked amazing, so we decided that was the shape we wanted even though it was more work to make spheres versus cubes for example. By that point, the “balls” term had stuck, and our product became Hot Chocolate Balls.

The REAL story… We have a wicked sense of humor and like saying “Balls!”, and it makes us smile every time we do!

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