Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Its the week before Valentines day! This week I want to share with you some recipes to show your Valentine that you have been thinking of them. Nothing says love and romance like a Chocolate covered strawberry right?  I love these things!!! I really think that I could eat them all day.  They are so much easier to make than people realize.  Here's a couple tips and ideas on how to make them. 

When choosing your strawberries, make sure to get the large bright red ones if you can.  They just look so pretty when they are huge and covered in chocolate. Also I originally was going to say you can use pretty much any type of chocolate, but I found one today that you can't use.  I had some left over Christmas candy that I figured I could melt down and use.  Just a word for the wise... those chocolate oranges still have an orange flavor even though they say milk chocolate on them!  Not so good mixed with strawberries!  Just warning ya. 

For the most part, if it's milk chocolate or semi sweet chocolate chips or even the chocolate almond bark... it works.  Also if you want to use white chocolate, the same thing applies. White almond bark or white chocolate chips works great.  I think I like the white chocolate ones the best.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

A Pint of Large strawberries
About a cup of melted chocolate

When melting the chocolate, you can use a double broiler if you have one. I don't, so I just cook it right on the stove and it works fine. I like to use a small frying pan. You do have to have the stove on very low!!  You also have to stir almost constantly to prevent burning. When the chocolate is melted hold the strawberry by the leaves over the pan.  With a spoon, pour the chocolate over the strawberry (or you can dip the strawberry in the chocolate). Leave a little bit of the strawberry showing at the top. Hold over the pan to let the excess drip off. Place on a plate and refrigerate for about 5-10 minutes. This allows the chocolate to harden quickly. I then like to drizzle the opposite color of chocolate on top to give it some character. Put back in the fridge until time to serve.