How to make chocolate Easter baskets / bowls

Make your own chocolate bowls for Easter, showers, thank yous, weddings

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Melting chocolate
• Ziploc bag
• Scissors
• Balloons
• Bowls

1. 
   Balloons in bowls

   First, blow up your balloons (I did two at a time) and place them in a bowl to hold them upright. I blew the balloons up to be between 6-8 inches tall. I wouldn’t make them too much bigger than that but you could definitely go smaller.

2. 
   Chocolate in bag.

   Melt the chocolate of your choice however you wish. I filled a bowl and microwaved mine. Put the melted chocolate inside the gallon Ziploc bag and twist the bag to get all the chocolate in the tip. Chica told me after the fact that I could have saved some bowl washing by melting the chocolate directly inside the opened Ziploc bag. I think I will do that next time! Wait a few minutes to let the chocolate cool just a bit and then snip off a tiny corner of the bag.

3. 
   Drizzling the chocolate

   Cover the bottom of the balloon with the chocolate going back and forth in one direction and then in the opposite way. Cover about half of the exposed balloon, filling in any holes along the bottom of the balloon so you have a nice, solid chocolate bottom. The chocolate will drip down the sides making a really neat drip effect when the balloon dries

4. 
   Mess from popped balloon!

   Move the chocolate covered balloons immediately to a cold area. If you fail to do this, you will end up with chocolate all over your kitchen when the balloon pops!

5. 
   Deflated balloon.

   After the chocolate thoroughly hardens, remove the covered balloon from the bowl carefully. You might have to slide a knife around the edge to loosen the dripped chocolate from the sides of the bowl. Once you remove the balloon, cut a hole in the top of it to deflate it. The balloon will still be attached to the inside of the chocolate. Very slowly peel the balloon away from the chocolate.

6. 
   White chocolate decoration.

   After the chocolate hardens and before you remove the balloon, you can drizzle white chocolate along the bottom for an added decorative touch . I didn’t think of this until after I removed the balloons from the baskets so I just inverted my chocolate baskets over a large glass to hold them steady while I decorated them and the glasses allowed the white chocolate to dry. In addition, I used the white chocolate to write messages inside of the bowls. You can write a person’s name, a message, draw a picture or make an interesting design. Try using chocolate of different colors to make the baskets, coordinating the colors with a wedding or baby shower.

7. 
   Bowls filled with goodies.

   Your chocolate basket is now complete and ready to be filled! Fill it with shredded colored coconut and chocolate eggs to make an Easter basket or with coordinating candy to make a shower gift or a thank you gift. For a chocolate fondue dessert party, make a bunch of the chocolate bowls to hold all of your dipping tidbits such as strawberries, sliced banana, cream puffs, pound cake, bite-sized cheesecake, raspberries and pretzel sticks.

8. 
   Wrapped in celophane ready to give.

   Finish the gift off by wrapping it in iridescent cellophane. Make sure you pick it up by the bottom and not by the tied cellophane because the edges are very delicate and will break off if you are not careful.

Tips & Warnings

• WARNING! If you are giving these as a gift, please make sure that the recipient is not allergic to latex. Even a small amount of exposure to the balloons could be life threatening if you are allergic.

Resources

• Chica & Jo