Chocolate bags

Apparently, lots of people know you can make bags out of chocolate.  It was news to me, though, and when I heard about it a couple of weeks ago I knew I had to give it a try.  And Ben's order for his birthday cake gave me the perfect opportunity. 

I have to admit that this is incredibly easy, so that makes it considerably less impressive.  But here's how it's done:

Materials

• chocolate melts or tempered chocolate
• unused coffee bags (how you get these is up to you.  I spent a lot of time spinning elaborate tales about why I needed extra bags with no coffee beans in them, but you can probably just ask if you can buy them at the store)
• pastry brush

The coffee bags are important because they have a slick lining in them that helps with removal once the chocolate cools.  I decided to do two bags in case one failed.  One was really flexible and the other was pretty rigid, so I figured one of them would work out.

Melt the chocolate.  I needed a black chocolate bag, so I totally cheated and bought black chocolate melts. (One time, probably seven or eight years ago, one of my best friends told me she refused to split her grocery shopping between three stores to save nickels and dimes here and there.  She said, "my time is worth something".  So that's what I say to myself every time I decide to pay a bit more for something to save myself some time.  I don't really buy into it since I'm a chronic overdoer, but it works in the moment.)

Cut the top portion of the bag off--down to whatever size you want your chocolate bag to be.

Use the pastry brush to paint the melted chocolate into the corners of the coffee bag and let that layer cool.  Then paint the rest of the inside of the bag and let it cool.  Keep adding layers of the chocolate "paint" until you think it's thick enough.  

I probably went overboard on the thickness, but when the bags were done I had no concerns that they would hold up if they survived the unmasking ceremony.

Put the bags in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.  This isn't totally necessary for the cooling, but I have found that if I let chocolate cool at room temperature instead of giving it that blast of cold, it seems to sort of disintegrate when I touch it.  The fridge gives it some sort of stability you don't get when you leave it on the counter.

Remove from the fridge and peel the bag away.  I just went to the bottom of the bag where the seam was and pulled from there...simple.

I didn't need two bags; they both worked out really well.  I decided I liked the look of the one that came from the more flexible coffee bag better for the cake I was making, since I had to stuff it and it sort of sagged to provide a better opening to do that.

I won't lie, I think this is pretty awesome.  Mostly because of the detail you get in the seams and folds.  But also, the whole project took less than half an hour--including fridge time.