Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Nothing says “I Love You” like Chocolate Covered Strawberries. How nice does it sound to be able to sink your teeth into some sweet and plump chocolate covered strawberries right now? Well, you certainly can be doing just that within 20 minutes if you follow this basic recipe.

Although you can certainly eat these year round, this is the perfect time of the year to make them, since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. This recipe is simple and only requires two ingredients: Strawberries and Chocolate. What a wonderful combination!

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Chocolate Covered Strawberries are a decadent dessert. They look fancy, but don’t let that discourage you because they can be made in almost no time at all. There really is no “special” recipe since they are all pretty much made the same way, dipped in chocolate and chilled until set. A tip I would give you is to make sure you use a quality chocolate or a brand of chocolate that you know you love to eat. I used HERSHEY’s for these chocolate covered strawberries. It melted quickly and turned out wonderfully.

I like using vibrant red strawberries because they are gorgeous and are almost always sweet. Do not worry if your strawberries are not as sweet tasting when eaten by themselves. Coating strawberries in chocolate is a great trick to mask sour strawberries. The chocolate coating helps to balance out the bitter flavor from the strawberry and gives your palate just the right amount of sugar to satisfy your sweet tooth.

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Before dipping, I like to wash my strawberries in a mixture of water and vinegar. After this, I rinse them with some more cold water, leaving out the vinegar this time. This helps to kill any bacteria and also causes the strawberries to last longer. Be sure to dry the strawberries really well to ensure all of the moisture is out. Having a dry strawberry will cause the chocolate to properly adhere.

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Make sure to not melt your chocolate too quickly or else it will burn and/or get lumpy. Lumpy chocolate is no fun and does not make for the prettiest chocolate covered strawberry. To be safe, you’ll want to melt these on a medium-low heat while stirring steadily and consistently. I have tried making these with chocolate chips before but I find it is best to make them with either chocolate melts or a chocolate candy bar broken into pieces. Sounds simple enough, right? If you like extra chocolate, you can do a second dip of it in the melted chocolate once the strawberries are set and then, set them again. I typically opt for just one coating and then allow it to set in the refrigerator.

Occasionally, when I make these, I like to use my fork to give the chocolate covering a little bit of dark chocolate drizzle. If you are making these for Valentine’s Day and are feeling festive, you can also use pink or red chocolate. In the past, I have made treat boxes with half a dozen of these chocolate covered strawberries for my friends and family. However you choose to display these is up to you. Do whatever suits your mood!

Happy Valentine’s Day!