Chocolate Pilgrim Hats

For Thanksgiving this year I've decided to make some chocolate turkeys and leaves, as well as, some chocolate pilgrim hats. I've seen so many cute and clever ways of creating a pilgrim hat out of chocolate candies and decided to try my hand at making a little more elegant version of it.

After playing around with a few techniques I settled on making a hollow chocolate pilgrim hat which I will fill with chocolate mousse. You can fill your hats with candy if you prefer.

I created my hats by filling a small plastic cup with chocolate and then pouring out the excess to create a shell. When it was chilled and un-molded and set on a round of chocolate it made a perfectly shaped hat.

Each hat is decorated with a band and buckle made of homemade white modeling chocolate. I used gold luster dust to make my buckles shimmer, but you can, if you prefer, just color some modeling chocolate yellow.

Let me show you how.

Before you begin, if you aren't experienced with making chocolate, read my chocolate making tipschocolate tutorial which shows you how to chose the right chocolate, how to melt and/or melt and temper chocolate, and more.

Click here to find my recipe for the modeling chocolate or if you prefer, you can simply use store-bought fondant.

Ingredients

16 ounces dark chocolate  -  melted and tempered if using pure semi-sweet chocolate or simply melted if using confectionery coating/candy melts
2 - 4 ounces white modeling chocolate (make ¼ recipe) or fondant
powdered sugar to dust work surface
gold luster dust or yellow food coloring

Filling:

To serve your hats for dessert you can fill them with:

chocolate mousse, pumpkin mousse, chocolate ganache, cheesecake mousse

Or you can fill your chocolate pilgrim hats with candy or nuts.

Supplies

12 small plastic* cups (the size of a shot glass - I used Solo kitchen/bathroom cups)
parchment paper lined baking sheet
offset spatula
3 inch round cookie cutter
cutting board
rolling pin
pizza wheel and/or knife
fine tip paint brush (used for food only)

* Don't use paper cups as the chocolate will look dull once removed from the cups.

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Completely fill a cup with melted and tempered semi-sweet chocolate or melted confectionery coating/candy melts.

Turn the cup upside down over your bowl of chocolate and allow all of the excess to drip out.

My tempered chocolate is fairly thick, so I tap on the bottom of the cup with the end of my spatula to help move the excess chocolate out. If your chocolate is thin, just allow it to drip out.

Use a metal spatula to scrape off any chocolate that is dribbling from the cup.

Use your finger to wipe away any excess chocolate along the opening of the cup. Set the cup upside down on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat to create 12 chocolate cups.

Chill in the refrigerator if using pure semi-sweet chocolate for 10-15 minutes and in the freeze if using confectionery coating/candy melts for 8-10 minutes until the chocolate sets.

While the cups are chilling, you can prepare the chocolate rounds which will become the hat brims. Reserve about a tablespoon of chocolate for later use, and pour the remaining chocolate out onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Use an offset spatula to spread it into a thin layer, trying to get it as even as possible. I find it helpful to grab hold of the parchment paper on either side of the chocolate and shake the paper until the chocolate smooths out.

Let the chocolate sit at room temperature until it just sets - it won't look shiny anymore and will be easy to cut. If it gets too hard it will crack when you try to cut it, so keep an eye on it.

Use a 2 ¾" round cookie cutter to cut out 12 rounds from the chocolate. If the chocolate is too wet and the rounds don't come out nicely, allow the chocolate to set a bit longer.

I like to flip the chocolate rounds upside down on the parchment paper lined baking sheet before putting them in the refrigerator or freezer to allow them to set completely. This keeps them from warping.

You can nibble on the excess chocolate as long as you don't need to re-melt it to make any more rounds.

Once your chocolate cups have set, pull them out of the plastic cups. If they won't budge, take a thin knife and run it around the edge of the cup removing any chocolate that may be stuck around the rim.

Then you should be able to easily remove the chocolate from the cups.

Remove the chocolate rounds from the refrigerator and set the chocolate cups on top.

If your chocolate cups have words imprinted on them (the bottoms of my cups had "Solo" imprinted on them) you can, if you choose, cover it with some chocolate. I smeared a very small amount of chocolate over the words and scraped it flat with a metal spatula.

 Lightly dust a cutting board with powdered sugar. Use a rolling pin to roll out your modeling chocolate to 1/16th inch thickness. Cut 12 long strips. Each should be about ¼" wide by about 6" long, You'll need a strip long enough to wrap completely around each chocolate cup, so measure one of your chocolate cups before you cut your strips.

Use a knife to cut out squares that are just a bit over ¼".

Cut out a smaller square in the middle of each to create your buckles.

You can dry brush gold luster dust over each of the modeling chocolate buckles, but I chose to dip my brush in some vodka (which will evaporate) and then into the luster dust and paint it on my buckles then allow it to dry.

It gives the buckle a vibrant gold luster. You could, if you prefer, just color some of your white modeling chocolate yellow for your buckles.

You will need to carefully re-melt the small amount of reserved chocolate (If using pure chocolate, there is no need to temper it for this purpose.)

Use a fine-tip paint brush to brush chocolate down the middle of a modeling chocolate strip.

Wrap the strip around the large end of the chocolate cup (close to the opening.) Press the seam together.

Paint a small amount of chocolate onto the back of a buckle and attach it to each hat. Your hats are now ready to fill with whatever you choose. You can attach the two hat pieces together with a bit of chocolate after filling them. I will make and fill my hats with chocolate mousse on Thanksgiving day.

I will set a hat on a dessert plate, pipe, or spoon in the mousse, and put the two hat pieces back together. The mousse will act as glue to keep the two pieces together. I want it easy for everyone to pick up the top of the hat, turn it over, and use a spoon to eat the mousse so I won't glue them together with melted chocolate.

If you plan to add candy or nuts, it will be a good idea to glue the two hat pieces together after you fill the cups.

Related Recipes

If you have fun making these chocolate pilgrim hat cups, you might also enjoy making these other food crafts.

St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Hats

Santa Suit Cups

Smiling Shamrock Cups

Pilgrim Cupcakes

Be sure to check out all of my amazing Thanksgiving Recipes.