Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Chocolate-covered strawberries are elegant, delicious, and surprisingly easy to make! They make a great gift for someone special on Valentine’s day or on an anniversary.
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
250g dark chocolate*
450g or 16 oz fresh strawberries
Directions:
Wash and dry the strawberries thoroughly. Be sure there is no water left anywhere on the surface of the strawberries otherwise it will disrupt the chocolate coating.
Weigh out the chocolate, chop it into little pieces, and place it in a heatproof bowl. Reserve one or 2 tablespoons of chocolate and set aside. This reserved chocolate is the seed chocolate to be added after the rest of the chocolate is melted.
Heat a pot of water on the stove until it is gently simmering.
Then place the bowl of chocolate on top of the pot (a bain marie), making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water in the pot. If you have a double boiler you can use that instead.
Slowly heat the chocolate, stirring with a spatula until the chocolate is melted. This should take about 5 minutes. If you are using a thermometer bring the chocolate to 100°F or 38°C.*
Take the chocolate off the heat and add in the reserved chocolate, stirring continuously until all the chocolate is melted. If you are using a thermometer you can bring the chocolate back to 85-90°F or 30-32°C.
Now the chocolate is tempered and ready to use.
Dip the strawberries one by one in the melted chocolate, allow the excess chocolate to drip off, then place the strawberries on a parchment-lined tray.
If properly tempered, the chocolate should set in about 5-10 minutes. After all the strawberries have been dipped in chocolate place the tray in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or until ready to serve.*
Enjoy!
Additional Notes:
*Using a thermometer is not absolutely necessary. I like to use one because I like to be precise when working with chocolate, but if you do not have one, no worries! Just take your time, be patient, keep the temperature low, and do not let the chocolate burn. When the chocolate is melted take it off the heat and add in the reserved chocolate and stir to bring down the temperature and melt the seed chocolate.
*If you want to use milk or white chocolate ignore the temperatures written in the recipe, milk chocolate and white chocolate melt and recrystallize at lower temperatures than dark chocolate.
*The strawberries are best if eaten the day they are made, but they will last up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
*If you want to add toppings (chopped nuts, coconut shreds, crushed Oreos, etc…) to your chocolate-covered strawberries simply dip the strawberries in the toppings after you dip them into the chocolate.
