Home-made gifts or garnishes for your table does not have to look tacky or be hard to make. I recently came across this really cute idea of a “Chocolate Spoon” and thought that it would make a lovely accompaniment to hot drinks after dessert.

The chocolate ball consists of icing sugar, cocoa, melted chocolate and a few drops of liquor (or milk if it’s intended for the kids). This is then attached to a wooden spoon and dipped in melted chocolate, with the option of a adding a marshmallow. Once the chocolate spoon is set, it can be stirred into a cup of hot milk for an indulgent hot chocolate, or stirred into a cup of coffee to create an instant mocha. And it literally only took a few minutes to make.

Ingredients:
Makes 12 Chocolate Spoons
12 wooden spoons
12 marshmallows (optional)
50g dark chocolate, melted
150g milk chocolate, melted
2tbs cocoa
½ cup icing sugar
2tbs liquor (or 2tbs milk)
150g dark chocolate, melted for dipping

• Sift together cocoa and icing sugar and stir in liquor (or milk).
• Mix the melted chocolate (dark and milk) into the cocoa mixture. The mixture should be quite stiff.
• Divide the mixture into 12 portions and roll into small balls.
• Using a small amount of melted chocolate, attach the chocolate ball to the spoon and leave to set for a couple of minutes. Repeat this step with each of the spoons.
• Once the chocolate balls have set onto the spoons, dip the whole chocolate ball into the melted chocolate and make sure the chocolate covers the whole ball. If you are using marshmallows, you can attach one on each spoon and leave the whole spoon in the fridge to set.
• If you are giving it as a gift, add the simple instructions: “Stir into a cup of hot milk until dissolved”.

…be fearless, and have fun!

esté