Chocolate Bowls

Gluten Free Chocolate Bowls Recipe

Spring has sprung! It is popping up all over around these parts and after suffering through the coldest winter in recorded Floridian history (mind you, Floridians are the same people who can’t vote properly and who call 911 to take them to bars, so who knows how accurate those records really are) it is nice to see the sun shining, the flowers blooming and the birds bouncing around the yard.

Spring is a time for pretty things. With that in mind I thought I’d show you how to pretty up that simplest of all gluten-free desserts; ice cream. Instead of serving ice cream (or mousse, pudding, etc.) in a boring old dessert bowl, how about making a lovely chocolate bowl instead?

Your guests will think you are a freaking creative genius, your desserts will look tres chic and I guarantee you won’t have to wash the bowls afterwards. The best part? They are so much simpler to make than they look like they would be.

Think how pretty these would be on Easter made of white chocolate and filled with a variety of pastel ice creams.

Gluten Free Chocolate Bowls Recipe

Directions

Here’s a step-by-step how-to:

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step One
First take small balloons (water balloons work great) and wash them with some soap and water – you don’t want your bowls to taste like rubber.  I hold the tops so water doesn’t get inside.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Two
Take a deep breath and blow them up!  The size of the balloons determines the size of the bowls.  Tie knots at the top of the balloons.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Three
Put about 2 ounces (or 1/3 of a cup) of chocolate chips for each bowl in a microwavable bowl and melt for a minute or two.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Four
Stir the chocolate until smooth and glossy.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Five
Pour the melted chocolate into a plate or onto some parchment paper and let it cool a little – trust me on this one.  If the chocolate is too hot it will pop the balloon and you will end up wiping, scrubbing or licking chocolate off your kitchen and self!  Warm is good – hot is bad!

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Six
Place the bottom of the balloon in the chocolate.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Seven
Slowly tip the balloon down covering it with a thick coating of chocolate.  For a straight top you can just roll the roll the balloon all the way around or …

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Eight
for a pretty scalloped edge, bring the balloon back up straight, turn it a few degrees and

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Nine
dip again.  Continue all around the balloon, turning and dipping.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Ten

The scallops don’t all have to be the same height so don’t obsess too much over this.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Eleven
Place the chocolate covered balloons on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper pressing down gently to form a flat bottom.  Refrigerate or freeze for about 30 minutes.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Twelve
When the bowls have chilled, grasp the balloon just under the knot and hold firmly.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Thirteen
Take a pair of scissors and snip off the knot but hold the balloon firmly to control how slowly you let out the air.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Fourteen
Slowly release the air, too fast and the bowl might break.  Take out the balloon and voila! a pretty little chocolate bowl.  If the deflated balloon sticks to the bottom of the bowl, just pop in the freezer for a few minutes and it will come right out.  These can be made ahead and stored in the fridge or freezer.

How To Chocolate Bowls: Step Fifteen

Fill with whatever your heart desires and be ready to take your bows at the dinner table!

For some ideas of what to put in them how about:

Simply Recipes Chai Ice Cream

David Lebovitz’s Vanilla Ice Cream

White on Rice Couple’s Silky Chocolate Mousse

Tasty Eats At Home Sweet Risotto

Use dairy free gluten free dark chocolate for the bowls and fill with dairy free ice cream if dairy is an issue.

Servings

This Gluten Free Chocolate Bowls recipe makes 1; increase portions for multiple servings

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owner’s. This blog accepts free manufacturers’ samples and forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. Affiliate links may be included in this post.

Disclaimer: All nutrition facts on Gluten Free & More are meant only as a guide and may differ depending on product brands used or ingredient substitutions. Some errors may occur, so you are encouraged to confirm the recipe’s ingredient and nutrition suitability for your own diet.
Have you tried this recipe? Give it a star rating and let us know your thoughts in the Ratings & Reviews section below.
Tags: Celiac Chocolate Dairy Free Fun Gluten-Free Gluten-Free Recipes Ice Cream Party Recipe
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  1. Emi
    March 23, 2010

    o.O it is a great idea!!! It's very beautiful!

  2. Kate
    March 23, 2010

    Fabulous tutorial! I've seen this before, but never tried them. The step-by-step makes it much less intimidating. They're beautiful, and so are your pics.!! Thanks for posting!

  3. Allison the Meep
    March 23, 2010

    Love this!

  4. EmmaB
    March 23, 2010

    So cute (and remarkably simple!)

  5. Valen
    March 23, 2010

    I've seen this before and I love the idea, great step by step pictures!

  6. Gala
    March 23, 2010

    Very nice pictures! That bowl looks so pretty, almost like an open flower.

  7. Ciao Chow Linda
    March 23, 2010

    I can think of so many yummy things to fill this with.

  8. Lisa (bakebikeblog)
    March 23, 2010

    These look so amazing! I am going to try them for Easter for sure :)

  9. The Cooking Photographer
    March 23, 2010

    You are so cool! I've seen this done before, but your's look like so much nicer.

    Laura

  10. Veronica M.
    March 23, 2010

    This is very cool–something I would love to try!

  11. Niki
    March 24, 2010

    This is awesome!! I'll tell my aunt about these so she can make some for her baby on her next birthday!

  12. Jenn
    March 24, 2010

    Gorgeous!! One question – do you have to worry about any off taste from the balloon diffusing into the chocolate? I know balloons always have a weird rubbery smell to them, and just wondering if this comes through or not.

  13. Diane-The WHOLE Gang
    March 24, 2010

    What a great idea! See people in FL can be smart, sometimes. Love it. I'll be making these for my husbands birthday next weekend. I'll have to raid my son's room for water balloons.

  14. Heather in SF @HeatherHAL
    March 24, 2010

    Oh what pretty photographs of the process! Years ago that cute Jacques Torres made these and I had forgotten how simple yet glamorous the presentation is. If only my teeny apt fridge had room for a cookie sheet.

  15. Bryn
    March 24, 2010

    I'm totally going to do this!!! Thanks for posting it with step by step directions and picutres!

  16. Anonymous
    March 24, 2010

    cool

  17. Christine
    March 24, 2010

    Well I've never seen this before (must have been when I was living under a rock) and I think you are a genius. A gluten free genius. Such a fabulous idea!

  18. gfe--gluten free easily
    March 24, 2010

    You are a freaking genius!!! Gorgeous, Carol!

    Love Diane's comment–hehe. ;-)

    Shirley

  19. veggie wedgie
    March 24, 2010

    This is so great! Thank you for the tutorial, what a lovely idea-the bowls look like flowers!

  20. Naomi Devlin
    March 24, 2010

    a wonderful idea! I might fill mine with some marzipan eggs. I love the step by step shots – very professional looking. x x x

  21. Heather @CeliacFamily
    March 24, 2010

    Ooooh, so tempting…. Yum!

  22. GF Gidget
    March 24, 2010

    Balloons?! You are hilarious!

  23. Jas.
    March 24, 2010

    Fabulous work – love that it looks so flower like!

  24. Simply...Gluten-free
    March 25, 2010

    Jenn – Washing the balloons with soap and water gets rid of that rubber taste – no one wants rubbery tasting chocolate :)

  25. WizzyTheStick
    March 25, 2010

    This is such a fanatastic idea.

  26. Amy @ Yard to Fork
    March 27, 2010

    You've inspired me again! I tried it: http://yardtofork.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/chocolate-balloon-cups/ Yay! Thank you :)

  27. Anonymous
    October 2, 2010

    You really have some great idea on how to making things look great. I love your gluten free diet recipes very much.

  28. February 20, 2011

    We saw these on your website today and just had to try them!!!
    It was fun to make them!
    We made 6 but 3 broke because we couldn’t get the balloons out, even though we kept putting them back in the freezer. I think ours were too thin.
    It was still a blast making them and they tasted so good! Thank you!

    You can see what we filled them with here:
    http://juniorglutenfreechefs.blogspot.com/2011/02/ice-cream-sundaes-w-edible-bowl-dairy.html

  29. Velvet Liedkie
    October 2, 2011

    I love this idea! i tried it, but the balloon was stuck to the chocolate when i tried to deflate it. sad days! :/ Could I have possibly done something wrong?

    1. October 4, 2011

      Try putting them in the fridge first – if the chocolate is really cold, it won’t stick.

  30. Elg
    July 19, 2012

    Wouldn’t you not want the balloons to touch your food? Balloons aren’t food-safe. Do you have any suggestions as to which kind of balloon to use in order to minimize harmful toxins?

    1. Gluten Free & More
      July 20, 2012

      From my understanding tit is the powder on the balloons that is not good for you which is why it is important to wash them first.

  31. Celine
    November 8, 2015

    What a colossal waste of time effort and money… The chocolate completely stuck to the balloons even after slowly deflating them… I was stuck with just serving ice cream in a bowl instead of the fancy chocolate bowls I was expecting.

    1. Gluten Free & More
      November 24, 2015

      Celine, hmm, if they stuck than the chocolate didn’t get cold enough and I’m sorry that you didn’t have a good experience.
      -Carol

    2. Aj
      March 20, 2017

      You didnt have to try them hahhahaha

  32. Pingback: 40+ Candida-Diet, Vegan, Sugar-Free Valentine's Day Recipes | Ricki Heller

  33. Rosie
    March 20, 2017

    LOVE THIS RECIPE
    Any suggestion, my brother is alergic to latex (the rubber on balloons)… any other ideas what we culd use instead

    1. Gluten Free & More
      May 15, 2017

      Thank you so much! Yes, you can just make sure it is superfine brown rice flour.

  34. Pingback: 40+ Sugar-Free Sweets for Valetine's Day (Vegan and Gluten-Free) | Ricki Heller

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