Chocolate Covered Strawberries are not just for Valentine’s Day! They are so quick and easy to make that they could be your go-to potluck dessert dish 🙂 Most people like them, and their eyes light up when they see them on the table. Unfortunately Chocolate Covered Strawberries don’t keep very long, so you can’t make them ahead. They are a make-it-today and eat-it-today treat!

We have a designated Chocolate Covered Strawberry maker in our family, and it’s Zade. He learned how to make them young, and has his technique down. He’s taken them to his teachers, to his girlfriends, to his girlfriend’s mothers, and he makes them for us any time we ask. He even makes them on our camping trips!

Helpful Hints:

• Sort through your strawberries! For best presentation choose strawberries that are red all the way to their stems.
• Only work with dry, room temperature strawberries.
• Do NOT use chocolate chips! Chocolate chips are made specifically for cookies—they are not made to melt!
• Use your favorite solid chocolate bar with no added flavorings or nuts. I prefer Lindt or Ghirardelli bars, but if you prefer Hershey’s, Symphony or Cadbury’s use that. I’ve used them all at some point!
• Do not refrigerate your Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Refrigerated Strawberries sweat when taken out of the refrigerator, and this causes the strawberry to shrink away from it’s chocolate shell. Even more troubling, the strawberry sweat causes the chocolate to get wet. Gross, right?

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

These quantities will cover approximately 12-18 medium sized strawberries

INGREDIENTS

• 12-18 really nice looking strawberries, with no soft spots or other blemishes
• 1 chocolate bar, 4-5 oz, milk, semi-sweet or dark

That’s it! So now it’s all about technique 🙂

DIRECTIONS

Before you begin, prepare for the dipping!

1. Line a tray with parchment paper
2. Chop the chocolate into small pieces
3. Boil some water and set up your chocolate melting station

• Set up something like this to melt your chocolate. I have the boiling water in a Pyrex measuring cup on which I have a small stainless steel bowl filled with my chopped chocolate resting on the rim. I cover that with a small plate to speed up the process of the chocolate melting.

• Do not get any water in your chocolate! Doing so will cause your chocolate to seize, and you’ll have to start again with a new batch of chocolate.

• When your chocolate has all melted, it’s time to start dipping.
• Grab a strawberry by it’s stem and dip it into the melted chocolate. I dip one side then turn or roll the strawberry to dip the other side.

• Place dipped strawberries on the parchment lined tray and leave to set.
• If you want to decorate the strawberries, now is the time while the chocolate is still wet. You can melt some white or dark chocolate and drizzle it across the strawberries or you can dip the strawberries in sprinkles or edible glitter. Get creative!

This last picture was taken through a bakery window. I wish I could see the price on those strawberries. I am sure they weren’t cheap!

Helpful Hint: The strawberries with glitter look pretty, but they are the last to get eaten. So don’t over do the glittery berries. I stick to chocolate drizzle now.

Now, go have fun with this, and dip some strawberries in chocolate!