April 14, 2011

Craving Chocolate?

These projects and two of my three go to favorites. Whenever we are throwing a party or need a little treat to send to a friend I resort to chocolate confections. I have over 20 trays to make and decorate your own pieces of chocolate, suckers, or pretzels. You can find these at any craft store and even Walmart has them seasonally. I try to buy them right after the holiday and have found amazing deals.


For the baby shower I'm throwing I wanted to do something a little more simple as I'm hoping for an elegant look. I'm doing dipped marshmallows on sticks and dipped pretzels. I'm gong to use white chocolate and simple white sprinkles for decoration. 



When you're doing these projects you can use any chocolate but most need some modifications. So for convenience I tend to use melting chips if I have them. You can melt them in the microwave or in a double boiler on the stove top.
I've done both- I usually do the stove for a large quantity so the chocolate can stay warm. But if I only need small quantities at a time the microwave is much easier.
I decorated the end of the marshmallow sticks with some baby wrapping paper over card stock. I wanted a pop of color as I knew the platter was going to be white, as well as the food and sticks. 




 Buy pretzel rods and  large marshmallows, each costs about a buck.


Just put your marshmallows on the candy sticks- which can be purchased at any craft store I usually buy a couple when they're on sale. You'll dip them in the chocolate and I use a little scoop/spatula to cover them as high as you'd like.

It depends how you're going to display the marshmallows, but in this case I knew I was going to have them on a platter. So I shook off the extra chocolate and dried them marshmallow side down. I've also had them in a bowl with flower foam in it to display like a marshmallow bouquet.


Same idea with the pretzels, dip them in chocolate, spoon it up as high as you'd want it and them shake off the extra over the sauce pan and lay them flat to dry.

I had planned to be finished at this point but thought they looked too plain. Usually I use sprinkles or colored chocolate and didn't realize it would look so plain. 


 So I put a little blue food coloring in the white chocolate and drizzled it over everything!


 This was the final result. I was a lot happier with the blue accent on top.

This was a super easy and fun project. They taste so yummy and there's so many fun ways to display them and I always get tons of compliments. (not to mention it costs me less than 4 bucks- yahoo!)

- Becca -

Linked up at Simply Designing,  I Heart Nap TimeCraft Envy, Chic on a Shoestring DecoratingStuff and NonsenseShabby NestTatertots and Jello,  Eements Interiors, Funky Junk InteriorsNifty Thrifty ThingsFire Flies and Jelly BeansSome What SimpleBeyond the Picket Fence and finally Fingerprints on the Fridge.