Express your love language beautifully and deliciously with Chocolate Covered Strawberries! These elegant treats are perfect for gifting!
Chocolate Covered Strawberries are easy to make, edible love letters to your friends and family, especially your sweetheart! Pull the dark, milk, and white chocolate out of the pantry and set your strawberries on the counter to make these sweet, eye-catching treats for everyone you love!
Sweet Hearts
Chocolate Covered Strawberries always look like fancy little candy-coated hearts that should be served with Champagne. What I love about these beautiful treats is that it doesn’t take many ingredients to make them, instead, you spend time making them look amazing because you want the person or people you made them for to feel super special. These chocolate strawberries are so easy to make that you could spend an afternoon making everyone you know their own delicious Valentine!
Create more heartfelt sweets like Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries or Strawberry Fudge to treat all the special people in your life.
Other Recipes to Serve with Chocolate Covered Strawberries
- Before diving into dessert, create a gorgeous and flavorful dish of Lobster Alfredo– it’s the perfect date entre!
- Make the night even more romantic with a beautiful mood-setting Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bellini!
Ingredients
Chocolate: To make chocolate-covered strawberries you will need dark chocolate chunks. To decorate the dipped strawberries, you will need white chocolate and milk chocolate chunks.
Strawberries: Purchase a pound of fresh strawberries, or as much as you need. After the strawberries have been washed and dried, leave the stems on to make dipping and eating easier.
How to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberries
STEP ONE: Divide the dark, milk, and white chocolate chunks in half, keeping half of each chocolate out to stir in after the first half is melted. Using a double boiler, or a smaller pot set on a larger pot filled with 1-2 inches of simmering water, gently melt the dark chocolate. The dark chocolate can also be melted in the microwave for 20-30 seconds until melted.
STEP TWO: Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the rest of the dark chocolate chunks. If the chocolate chunks are not melting, put the pot back on the larger pot to reheat, or place the bowl back into the microwave and heat for a few seconds until the chunks have melted and are stirred in.
STEP THREE: Rinse and dry the strawberries completely and then set them aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Hold the strawberry by the stem and gently dip it into the melted chocolate, covering it almost completely. Allow the excess chocolate to drip off the strawberry.
STEP FOUR: The dipped strawberries onto the lined baking sheet to set up.
STEP FIVE: Melt the white chocolate and the milk chocolate separately using the same method- either the double boiler technique or microwaving it. Stir in the other half of the white chocolate into the melted white chocolate and stir the milk chocolate chunks into the melted milk chocolate. When each chocolate has melted, pour each chocolate into its separate pipping bags. Move the bag from side to side over the strawberries to drizzle the white and milk chocolate.
STEP SIX: Allow the strawberries to cool and set up on the parchment paper. Once set, carefully remove the strawberries from the paper and store them in an airtight container in the fridge.
Tips for Success
- Make sure the strawberries are completely dry before dipping them in chocolate. Any water on the berries could cause the chocolate to seize, meaning it thickens and forms ridges, and it would no longer be good for dipping.
- If the chocolate becomes too thick for dipping, gently reheat it in short bursts, stirring frequently. If you find the chocolate has become too thin, you can stir in more chocolate or allow it to cool slightly to thicken. Chocolate that has streaks or looks dull may indicate improper tempering. You can try reheating and cooling the chocolate while stirring constantly to achieve proper crystallization.
- Decorate the strawberries however you like. Leave them plain after dipping into dark, milk, or white chocolate. Add a chocolate drizzle on top in a different variety of chocolate like I did here. Add sprinkles to match the holiday or event for a little color. Double dip the strawberries – first dip completely in one type of chocolate and then dip halfway up in another variety.
- Enjoy the chocolate-covered strawberries within two days of making them. Freezing dipped strawberries is not recommended.
What is the secret to chocolate-covered strawberries?
Beautiful chocolate-covered strawberries are simple to make, especially if you follow two tips! First, wash and dry the berries completely before dipping. As mentioned above, if water drips into the chocolate, it could cause it to seize, and you might need to re-melt more chocolate. Damp berries are also harder for chocolate to stick to, so even if water doesn’t get into the chocolate, the chocolate could end up falling off the berry.
Secondly, use room-temperature strawberries! Using cold berries can create condensation under the chocolate as the berry warms up, which will make the chocolate unable to stick. Setting out the berries at least 10 minutes ahead of time to come to room temperature will ensure the perfect marriage of berries and chocolate.
What not to do when making chocolate-covered strawberries
Help your chocolate-covered berries look amazing by avoiding a few common pitfalls.
The first is using chocolate that is too cold. Have the parchment-lined trays and dried strawberries set up before melting the chocolate so that the chocolate doesn’t cool while you set it up.
Secondly, use a pot or bowl to melt the chocolate that is deep enough to dip the strawberry straight in, rather than something shallow that you need to roll the strawberry over. This will create a nicer coat of chocolate. Also, once the first coat of chocolate is pretty dry, dip the berry again for a thicker coat of chocolate.
Finally, if you choose to add sprinkles or other decorations, don’t wait until you’ve dipped all of the berries. The chocolate may be too firm by then. After every few berries, take a second to add sprinkles and then continue to dip the berries.
More Beautiful Strawberry Recipes to Enjoy!
- Strawberry Cheesecake
- Strawberry Chocolate Tart
- Strawberry Shortcake Trifle
- Honey, Strawberry & Brie Bruschetta
- Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait
Ingredients
- 1 pound strawberries
- 1 cup dark chocolate chopped
- ½ cup white chocolate chopped
- ½ cup milk chocolate chopped
Instructions
Temper Chocolate – Double Boiler Method
- Reserve about half of each chopped chocolate variation as seed chocolate.
- Fill a small "bottom" pot with about 1-2 inches of water. Make sure the water level is below the bottom of the upper pot/bowl when it's placed on top to avoid direct contact.
- Place the bottom pot on the stove and bring the water to a simmer. The water should be hot but not boiling vigorously. Choose an upper pot or glass bowl that fits on top of the bottom pot without touching the water.
- Place the dark chocolate into the upper pot. Stir occasionally as it heats to ensure even melting.
- Once melted, remove the bowl from the heat source and add the reserved seed chocolate. Stir until the seed chocolate is completely melted and the mixture reaches a temperature of around 88-91 degrees F.
- If the temperature is below the desired range, you can gently reheat the chocolate by placing the bowl briefly over the double boiler. Be cautious not to overheat.
Temper Chocolate – Microwave Method
- If using the microwave, place half of the dark chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl. Then heat the chocolate in short 20-30 second bursts, stirring between each burst.
- Once the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the heat source and add the reserved seed chocolate. Stir until the seed chocolate is completely melted and the mixture reaches a temperature of around 88-91 degrees F.
- If the temperature is below the desired range, you can gently reheat the chocolate using the microwave in very short bursts. Be cautious not to overheat.
Dipping Strawberries
- Wash the strawberries and pat them dry with paper towels. Make sure they are completely dry to prevent any water from affecting the chocolate's texture.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent the dipped strawberries from sticking. Set aside.
- Hold a strawberry by its stem and dip it into the tempered dark chocolate, covering it almost completely. Allow excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl.
- Place the dipped strawberry onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining strawberries.
- Melt the milk chocolate and white chocolate separately, using either of the tempering methods listed above.
- Once melted, use a small piping bag (or food storage bag with the corner snipped off) to drizzle the milk and white chocolate over the dipped strawberries. Hold the piping bag over the strawberries and move your hand back and forth to create thin drizzles.
- Allow the chocolate-covered strawberries to cool at room temperature until the chocolate is fully set, about 1-2 hours.
- Once set, carefully remove the strawberries from the parchment paper. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They are best enjoyed within 24-48 hours of making them.
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