How-To: Chocolate Bowls

Are you looking for a sweet treat to make your Valentine this year? Look no further because Paula has crafted up the perfect little bowl of love! This quick and easy project will dazzle your kids with it’s “magic” or be the perfect surprise sweet ending to a romantic meal. These whimsical chocolate bowls can hold ice cream, berries and cream, pudding, candies, or anything that you or your sweetheart desire!

1. First, get your setup ready. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper or wax paper. Blow up your balloons, being careful not to blow them up too big, since the tops of them will ultimately be the size of your bowls. It’s wise to use smaller thicker balloons so you can get more bowls out of your batch of chocolate. We used balloons we purchased at the local grocery store.

Add 10 ounces of dark chocolate to a bowl set over simmering water, making sure the bottom doesn’t touch the water or it will seize up, and stir until it’s completely melted. Remove from the heat, add the remaining chocolate bit by bit, and stir until all the chocolate is smooth and melted. This step will help to temper the chocolate, which makes the chocolate firm up and give it snap. Let the chocolate cool for 8-10 minutes, you don’t want the chocolate so hot that the balloons pop!

2. Make the base of your bowls by spooning about a half tablespoon of chocolate onto the prepared sheet tray and swirling into a disc shape. We found that 6 discs per sheet tray worked well.

3. Hold the balloon by the knot and dip into the bowl of melted chocolate. Swirl the balloon around to make a nice even coat.

4. Let the excess chocolate drip off into the bowl and place the balloon on one of the chocolate discs.

5. You may need to hold for a few moments to make sure it sticks. Repeat with the remaining balloons and chocolate.

6. Place the whole sheet tray into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set.

7. When the chocolate is completely set, use scissor to gently make a whole in the top of the balloon under the knot. Be careful not to suddenly pop the balloon because the bowl could break from the force. It’s best to slowly let the air out so the bowl remains intact.