So when I saw “Hot Chocolate on a Spoon” I thought they’d be the perfect Valentine’s treat for the teachers.
And while I knew Princess Cupcake would want to help make them, she came home from school and said, “I’m really kinda tired.” Climbed in my bed, asked me to turn off the light, and turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. About an hour and multiple meltdowns over critical issues like wanting only one strawberry not two and not cutting it but leaving it whole, she put herself to bed early saying her throat hurt and needed her pink medicine.
Mom’s flying solo. Probably a good thing given the past hour and a half.
Here’s what you need for 6 spoons:
• Chocolate Fountain Chocolate (I used 122 chips to equal 8 oz. Yes, I counted them. Don’t worry, you’ll have gobs left.)
• ¼ cup of Cocoa – sifted
• ½ cup of Powdered Sugar – sifted
• Pinch of Salt
• Colored sprinkles
• Freezer zip lock bag
• Scissors
• Cookie sheet
• Plastic Spoons – I used pink, of course
• Silicone Shaped mini muffin tray – or any ice cube tray or mini muffin tray. I used a heart-shaped mini muffin pan (they have them on sale at JoAnn right now)
• Wrappers for the finished masterpiece
• Tags for your instructions
Here’s how to create your perfect Valentine culinary masterpiece:
Melt the chocolate. I read a couple different sites on how to temper the chocolate in a double boiler, but honestly – that’s such a pain. I threw it in my candy melter and it worked beautifully. (There’s even a photo of it on the back of the chocolate fountain chocolate package so I was confident it was within the realm of acceptable ideas.)
Once the chocolate is melted, add the coca and sugar and salt. Tip: If you are sifting as you add, make sure your sifter is smaller than the width of your melter. Mine – was not. I thought I could just angle it in but that theory was significantly flawed and ended up with powdery cocoa all over my table and melter. (I can no longer blame Princess Cupcake for the messes in the kitchen!) Fool me once, the sugar, I sifted over a bowl and dumped in.
Stir it up well.
Get out your zip lock bag and spoon most of the chocolate mixture into it, leaving about 1/6 of it in the melter.
TURN OFF the melter.
CLOSE the zip lock bag and snip off one of the corners.
Now pipe the chocolate into the silicone baking pan, making sure to fill all the corners or edges. This will keep it really pretty – MUCH easier than if you tried to spoon it in.
Put the silicone pan onto your cookie sheet and placed the spoons standing upright into each one of the muffin spots. They should stand up with no problem since the chocolate mixture is so thick now. If you are using silicone baking pans and not the cookie sheet, good luck. There’s nothing structured or stable about silicone. Trust me.
I put the whole thing in the refrigerator to chill and harden for about 50 minutes. No rhyme or reason to the timing – I was working on a project and at a stopping point I checked it and at that time, it seemed firm. Less time might be fine too.
Silicone seemed to work famously well since it’s flexible when you need to get the spoons out of the pan. I read on another site that they used a metal mini muffin tray and had to dip it in water to get the chocolate to release. I didn’t have that problem AT ALL.
Heat up your remaining chocolate mixture.
While it’s heating, dump your sprinkles into a small shallow bowl.
When the chocolate is melted again, dip your spoons in it and then immediately into the sprinkles, covering the bottom and a bit of the edges.
Place it back on your chilled cookie sheet to firm up again.
Once it has hardened, place the spoons in your wrappers and attach your gift tags. I think it would be super cute to pour in a few mini marshmallows in the treat bag too (an afterthought – I didn’t have any.) Mine read, “Happy Valentines Day! Drop this spoon into your favorite mug and pour 1 cup of hot milk over it. The chocolate will melt. Just stir and enjoy! Love, Princess Cupcake.”
And while Princess Cupcake woke up the next morning to another snow day in Texas — sans sore throat, she was highly impressed with her next Valentine’s Day present for the teachers. And one left for mommy… Cheers!
Follow up: Did I taste it? Yes, I did (using whole milk). I’m having some right now as she finally naps. It’s yummy — and PINK! Me thinks she would approve.
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