Candy-dipped Chocolate Ice Cream Cups

"The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights."

                                                                                                                                                        -Giotto di Bondone

It's a gray rainy weekend here on the East Coast so I thought I'd put a little colour out there by sharing one of my sister's recent sprightly concoctions: chocolate ice cream cups. A great activity for kids on a rainy day (including the big kids). Leave it to Ariell to make this treat no, not out of plain old regular brown chocolate, but bold purple chocolate dipped in multicoloured candy sprinkles. That girl knows how to have fun. Seriously. And man do I miss her these days. 

She made these recently with her loyal sidekick Melissa and luckily for me (and you), they documented the whole whimsical adventure and allowed me to share it with you here. 

But before we get started, let me just tell you a little bit more about this dynamic duo. My sister is a cook extraordinaire and I already told you a little about her magical ways in my post about her Butternut-Peanut-Coconut soup recipe last fall. At 12 years old, she was already running her own business, selling her baked goods at our local farmer's market and over the years, her love of food and cooking has only grown. Recently she started a catering company called Edible Art and she also runs a beautiful little cafe in Newport Landing Nova Scotia. Her friend Melissa is a magnificent photographer and the genius behind Raven Dawn Photography and together, these two girls are unstoppable. This winter they went to Hawaii and had the time of their lives. Their friendship is one of those that spills out joy all around and makes even the gumpiest person crack a smile. When I saw these photos of their ice cream cup-making adventure, I wanted to share them with you all. So here's how you make them.

Step 1: Blow up some balloons, as big as you want your bowls to be. Small water balloons work well.

Step 2: Melt the chocolate. Ideally, it should be tempered, which you can read all about here.

Step 3: Once the chocolate is cooled to around 90 F (32 C), dip the balloons in.

Step 4: Dip in candy sprinkles.

Step 5: Put a dollop of chocolate on a baking sheet and put the balloon on it.

Step 6: Pierce your balloon and discard it.

Step 7: Fill with your favourite ice cream and share with someone you love.

And in case you want a little extra instruction, here's a wicked little video from The Chocolate Addict, showing the whole process. Enjoy!