When It Comes To Butter Bombs, The Possibilities Are Endless

You've likely heard of hot chocolate bombs. Gaining popularity a few years ago, these "bombs" were basically a mixture of powdered hot chocolate and a variety of sweet toppings — miniature marshmallows, candy, edible glitter, etc. — encased in a chocolate ball that would dramatically melt when dropped into hot milk. Now that hot chocolate bombs' popularity has waned, though, social media-savvy foodie influencers have turned their attention to a new kind of bomb: the butter bomb. 

No, these butter bombs are not the same as fat bombs, often eaten on the keto diet, as a quick way to eat a large portion of healthy fats at one time. Instead, butter bombs take advantage of the fact that butter will melt, much like chocolate, when it comes into contact with hot food. To make them, butter is molded into a sphere, filled with toppings, then frozen until ready to use. When dropped on a hot meals, such as a seared tuna steak, the toppings and seasonings spill out as the butter melts — and the flavor and use options for this rich, buttery addition are endless.

To craft your own customizable butter bombs, you just whip butter until it's easily pliable and then spread it into a spherical mold, containing two halves, leaving room for filling. Once both halves of the molded spheres are frozen, you can fill them with your toppings of choice and assemble the two sides of the spheres (using some extra softened butter to attach the two sides). Freeze the butter rounds until they've solidified, and until you're ready to use them.

Butter bombs can contain either sweet or savory fillings. For a sweet treat, you might fill your butter bombs with blueberries or chocolate chips and then pair them with waffles or pancakes, drizzling hot syrup atop the butter to "activate" the bomb and reveal its contents. For savory meals, you could fill the butter rounds with diced prosciutto, crumbled goat cheese, and herbs, and then place a butter bomb inside a steamy baked potato or onto a hot steak, and watch it melt away. The butter itself can also be flavored with spices and herbs, such as paprika or oregano. Just flavor the butter first (like you would when making a compound butter), then make it into delectable spheres to melt on dishes with a rich twist.