Love is expansive, and chocolate is dark; serving chocolate-strawberries, will surely melt a heart.
Yep. It’s that time of year again, when my cornball soul can pen a silly verse without apology, when I can send construction paper hearts glued to paper doilies the old-fashioned way — snail mail — and serve my family chocolate at every meal, for every course, if I so desire.
Flourless Chocolate Tortes, Bacon & Chocolate Truffles and luscious Chocolate Mousse are past Valentine’s Day favorites. The following recipe, however, is one I can gobble with abandon, for the chocolate is merely the accessory for a plump, juicy strawberry.
So if you’re looking for a special treat that’s easy to make and appreciated by all, look no further than Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries.
This is also the time of year when many grocers stock those humongous, long-stemmed babies, so perfect for dipping; I purchased my beauties from Hiller’s.
People are under the assumption that they are difficult to make, which puzzles me. I’ve seen blogs with pages devoted to tempering the chocolate just so that the chocolate adheres to the berry just right. Granted, you must monitor the chocolate as it melts so you don’t overdo it; but that requires minimum effort. I simply purchase baker’s chocolate, break it into pieces, microwave — checking — until creamy, then dip. There’s a bit more finesse than that, particularly if you decide to decorate them, but not much.
Kate believes everything should be dipped in chocolate.
Which brings me to the next step: the accoutrements. You could forget them altogether, a strawberry dipped in one coat of chocolate is poetry unadorned. Or you could go hog wild, decorating them with assorted chopped nuts, colorful sprinkles, even caramel. Strawberries dipped in white chocolate and dressed with small candy red hearts are favorites of my kids.
For ease, I drizzled melted white chocolate over mine in the following recipe, then made a design with the prongs of a fork. You’ll have more control over your design if you put the chocolate in a squirt bottle, or trim one bottom tip of a plastic bag and use as a make-shift pastry bag.
Happy Valentine’s Day; Love and Cyber Kisses to you all!
