CHOCOLATE ACORNS: YUMMMM!

So... my family LOVES desserts. I'm not the biggest dessert fan, but I've been instructed to simply understand that desserts are a necessity here. Since they are (periodically) required in order to ensure our homeschool remains functional, we often find ourselves creating food and art along our journey.

Cooking doesn't have to be a chore, especially in the homeschool arena. Cooking should be considered "creating art in the kitchen." It becomes a fun activity if viewed as either an academic assignment or subject, or as edible art! We enjoy making edible creations as often as our diets will healthily allow.

Our most recent favorite has become Chocolate Acorns, which we stumbled upon on Pinterest. There are several versions, but we've combined parts from different recipes and made it our own. Here's our recipe below.

​INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup Mini Chocolate chips (melted)
50 Mini Chocolate Chips
50 Milk Chocolate Hershey's Kisses
50 Mini Nilla Wafer Cookies

DIRECTIONS

1. Line a medium-size baking sheet with parchment or butcher paper and set aside.
   
   
2. Pour 50 (plus a few extras for nibbling along the way) mini Nilla Wafer Cookies into a bowl and set aside.
   
   
3. Unwrap 50 (plus a few extras for nibbling) Hershey's Kisses and set aside.
   
   
4. In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the 1/2 cup chocolate chips (most recipes call for semisweet chocolate, but we don't prefer the taste of semisweet) in the microwave for about 45 seconds or until melted just enough to stir (if necessary, add more time in 15 second intervals). Stir melted chocolate until it's smooth.
   
   
5. Transfer the melted chocolate into the corner of a snack-size Ziploc bag using a spatula. Snip off just a tiny corner of the bag. On our first try, even our small snip was too big, so be sure to snip a really tiny piece of the plastic baggie.
   
   
6. Pipe a small amount of the melted chocolate onto the flat side of each mini Nilla Wafer Cookie and quickly press a Hershey’s Kiss on top, or "kiss it" as we call it. After the melted chocolate has kissed or adhered to the wafer cookie, place the duo on the prepared baking sheet, cookie side down. Repeat the chocolate-to-wafer process until all have been "connected."
   
   
7. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 5 minutes to set.
   
   
8. After 5 minutes, take the baking sheet out of the freezer and pipe a small dot of the remaining melted chocolate onto a mini chocolate chip, and attach it to the top of the wafer to create the "stem" of the "acorn."
   
   
9. After all have been "stemmed" and placed back on the baking sheet, freeze for another 5 minutes to set completely.
   
   
10. Enjoy the delicious combination of chocolate and vanilla wafers!
    
    
11. Don't forget to take pictures as you are creating, as well as pictures of your finished product.

Not only is this a fun project to make over and over together, and not just for the holidays as some recipes suggest, but various academic elements can be infused into this "project" depending on the ages of your students. For little ones, they can be encouraged to practice counting to 50 a few times (MATH). For older kids, they can engage in pronouncing the various ingredients listed on the packaging (LANGUAGE ARTS). Some kids may enjoy drawing a picture of a few acorns as they take a snack break (ART). Remember to be creative.
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We hope you enjoy our favorite, sweet and crunchy, year-round chocolate acorn treat as much as the folks at ArtEase! seem to. Be sure to visit back next week for another great art project. Remember to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.​. Enjoy! :)