Saturday, March 22, 2008

Chocolate Cups

Since this was our second attempt at these chocolate cups, I feel like we can impart enough wisdom to post the recipe. They're so cute! Popped balloons = lots of chocolate splatter to clean up, but otherwise fun to make. (We used dark chocolate and mint chocolate chip ice cream for our St. Patrick's Day version. I liked these better, though.)

5" balloons (NOT water balloons - they will pop... they will ALL pop)
3 bags white chocolate chips (for approximately 18 finished cups)
Crisco (or whatever) spray
Wax paper

Blow up the balloons - as many as you need for the number of cups you want. Melt the chocolate over medium low heat in a double boiler. When the chocolate is completely melted and smooth, let it cool slightly. Spray the balloon with Crisco and spread the grease with your hand to about halfway up the balloon. (We have done it without the Crisco with sad results. The higher up you go with the grease, the easier it will be to get the balloons out.)

Hold the balloon by the knot and dip it in the melted chocolate, bringing it up out of the chocolate between each dip. (The longer you leave the balloon in the warm chocolate, the more likely the balloon will pop and you will be finding chocolate in strange places for weeks.) Set the balloon on a flat (and mobile) surface covered in wax paper (we used our cutting boards) until you have filled the surface. Put the chocolate covered balloons in the refrigerator (or freezer) for about 15 minutes.

Remove the balloons from the refrigerator and poke the top (near the knot) with a safety pin. Let the air out of the balloons slowly, then ease it out of the chocolate cup. Keep the cups cold until you plan to use them. We filled ours with strawberry ice cream and added a side of dipped strawberries.

2 comments:

allyn said...

those look adorable and delicious. i tried to dip pretzel sticks in chocolate last night. it was a total disaster! i burned the milk chocolate, so it tasted terrible. i was melting white chocolate chips in little bowls in a double boiler and putting food coloring in it for added flavor and pizzazz. the white chocolate didn't melt so smoothly. i gave up, but i did make some cute bunny, butterfly and chick sugar cookies.

melissa said...

I'm so glad you tried this first so you could do the crying for me. :)