Chocolate Hearts with a Twist

When I was thinking of what to make for my Wed evening bible study group a couple weeks ago, I had wanted to try something different, but with time restraints wasn't feeling overly ambitious or confident so I went with the Sweet Heart Cupcakes instead.  What I had wanted to make in fact were heart-shaped chocolate cups.  I would fill them with fresh berries or whatever else I had on hand.

I did in fact get to make these chocolate cups for a dinner party we'd been invited to by good friends.  Instead of berries though (which I didn't have on hand), I decided to fill the cups with butterscotch pudding.  It may sound kind of strange, but it worked.

Making the chocolate cups was pretty simple.  I used dark chocolate moulding wafers and slowly melted them in a glass bowl in my microwave, making sure not to burn the chocolate.  Once the chocolate was runny, I used a small paintbrush (one that I only use for baking!) and painted the chocolate along the insides of heart-shaped silicone muffin cups.  You can also use paper cups I think but since I was making heart-shaped cups I used the silicone which were easy to use and pop the cup out of once hardened.

Once the chocolate cup hardened, I carefully popped it out of the cup making sure not to break the edges while I peeled back the silicone cup.  I only had a couple "casualties" and the cups were ready to fill.

I just used a butterscotch instant pudding as the cup filler and set them in the fridge to set.  I could have put a dollop of whipping cream on top to finish them well but I wasn't thinking clearly I'm sure because I didn't do that.  They were much easier than I thought they'd be and they were really yummy.

In future, I think I would either use these cups for ice cream sundaes or my original thought of fresh berries and whipping cream.