Chocolate Balloon Cups

We’re going over to dinner at someone’s house tonight and bringing dessert …. so I figured it was the perfect excuse to try the super fun homemade chocolate bowls I’d seen Carol at Simply Gluten Free make.  She’s so fun, and so are these easy (but oh-so fancy looking) desserts!  By the way, her tutorial on how to make them is way more complete than mine, so go ahead and click the link over to her post if you want to try these yourself.

First off, I bought some water balloons.   It’s not often one of your key tools for a fancy dessert are balloons now is it? 

Next, take some melting chocolate — I used dark chocolate — and stick it in the microwave until it’s all runny and melted.

Then the fun begins.  Or in my case, the insanity.  If you are smart (unlike me) you will start out with a small balloon dipped and rolled all around in the chocolate.  Kinda like this.

To avoid my insanity, heed the warnings to make sure the chocolate is not too hot so your balloons covered in chocolate don’t explode all over the place.   I didn’t wait long enough, as you can see.

After about an hour of cleaning up the chocolate splatters that got all over my kitchen, the floor, the cabinets, and me (in my hair, on my face, all over my clothes) I tried again.  This time with success.  Here they are all ready to cool.

Once they are cooled, just snip the very top of the balloon and let them deflate.  

And then you fill with whatever you’d like.  I made chocolate mousse using an epicurious recipe and topped it with some homemade peppermint whipped cream and some chocolate shavings.  Delish and elegant!