Exploding Chocolate

No, that title is not to introduce a story about anything relating to a potty at the casa. I know, shocking. After a certain age, you just should not share other people's defecation stories.  This story is about Crafty Gal, who tried to incorporate Cooking Gal into the mix. Oy-vey... it was interesting to say the least.
Cooking-Crafty Gal spied some dee-licious chocolate pudding cups on the itnernets. She decided to make them with her boys as part of their summer to-do list. (more on that later.) Well... I refuse to even link the site. Poor Bakerella should never know her brilliant idea was so poorly executed. Here we go...

First you start with some chocolate chips, and some small inflated balloons. I was rebuked for whining about my cheeks hurting by the two older boys. Hadji said, "Mom, you have to use your chest, not your cheeks to get your power." Wow. Just, wow.

Next, you make these cute little spots of chocolate on a pan. These will get smooshed flat (professional term there folks, e-mail me if you need further explanation) and those become the cup base.

Then you proceed to dip a small balloon into the melted chocolate and place it on the little chocolate circles. Now, this is where Crafty-Cooking Gal, did not implore her "I barely passed biology and only did so because my field hockey coach was my teacher." knowledge and think...
Hot chocolate + balloon = exploding chocolate. And  I do mean, exploding. It was everywhere. My pink shirt, the cupboards, even the stove... and people (like you Heather.) know I like my stove clean. Very clean. Like, I take the knobs off and clean it with a Q-tip clean. It was choice time for this mama. Freak out and get mad whilst the three wild boys watched, or embrace the exploding chocolate. We embraced. I busted out laughing, and so did they.

After letting the chocolate cool off for 15 minutes we tried again. We got more exploding chocolate. Since we were already covered in chocolate we repeated this cycle until Micah got home from work. We kept at this until finally... an HOUR later, we had chocolate that was still melted and yet, cool enough to dip. At this point Hadji was not thrilled with the idea and doubted my 34th promise of "it will work this time, I just know it!" 

So, after we finally got some dipped, (which Alden was too scared to even attempt) we had them ready to cool. Then pop the balloons, and voila... one messy kitchen and chocolate hair treatment later, you have Chocolate Pudding cups!

 THE Chocolate Pudding Cup. Loved by one and all.