Try This: Chocolate (Monster) Bowls

I have been wanting to try out the whole chocolate-bowls-made-by-balloons thing for a while now. I read through a few different articles on it (see here and here or just type "chocolate bowls" into Pinterest and see what you get). And with Halloween coming up, I thought this would be a perfect time. There's already too much sugar floating around my life as is, so why not add a little more?

I added green food dye to white chocolate, and then added candy eyes to create "monster" chocolate bowls. Although, I think they also kind of look like Kermit the Frog too. :)

Also, I can't add googly eyes to something without thinking of that Christopher Walken SNL sketch. Have you seen that? It makes me laugh. Every. Time.

Supplies:
-balloons
-candy eyes
-11 oz white chocolate chips
-1 tablespoon oil
-1/2 teaspoon green food dye

This probably goes without saying, but if you are allergic to latex or balloons, do not try this. That could be very hazardous to your health. Or if you're allergic to googly eyes, again, not a great treat for you.

First blow up the balloons. Keep them on the small side. Find a microwave safe bowl that the balloons fit in well. This is what you'll melt the chocolate in.

Melt the chocolate, oil, and food dye in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. Then give it a stir. Then microwave again for 30 seconds, and stir. Repeat until it's melted. This ensures that you won't overcook the chocolate.

Dip the balloon in the melted chocolate. I let my chocolate cool for about a minute before trying this, and I didn't have any balloons pop. I noticed that the chocolate didn't cover the balloons as much as I would have liked, so I used a spoon to smooth it along the bottom of the balloon. After dipping, place the chocolate-covered balloon on a sheet of wax paper, and add googly eyes.

Half the tutorials I read on these recommended you use non-stick cooking spray, while others didn't mention it at all. So I tried spraying two of the four balloons I dipped. I lightly sprayed the bottom with non-stick cooking spray before dipping into the chocolate.

I found that using the non-stick spray made it harder for the chocolate to stick to the balloon, and it didn't peel off any better after the chocolate set than the balloons without non-stick spray. So, my verdict is skip the spray. You don't need it.

With the amount of chocolate I melted, I probably could have dipped five balloons total. The bowls turned out to be around the size of a standard cereal bowl. So, if you use water balloons (as opposed to regular balloons like I used), you could probably make more than five with this amount of chocolate.

Once the chocolate set and felt hard to the touch (about 3 hours left out at room temperature), I gently pulled the top of the balloons between two fingers and used scissors to snip a small hole. I then let the air out slowly, allowing the balloon to gently pull away from the edges.

It was a cold day when I made these, so my chocolate set pretty easily. If you find that your chocolate isn't setting, you can pop these in the refrigerator or freezer for a while. It's good to make them on wax paper or a cookie sheet so you can easily move them if needed.

"It's not easy being green..."

You can fill these with candy or ice cream. Serve your sugar in more sugar. :) These are certainly decadent but really fun to make. Glad I gave them a try. Thanks for letting me share! xo. Emma

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.