Just saying the words "chocolate covered strawberries" conjures up the thought of romance, decadence and pleasure. But why choose to just do a plain chocolate covered strawberry when you can have a gourmet one instead. Follow the steps below for the best in gourmet chocolate covered strawberries.
Instructions
1. Decide what toppings you want to use for your strawberries such as nuts, coconut, sprinkles and tiny chocolate pieces. Just make certain that whatever you are using is small enough to work well with the berries.
2. If you don't already have all of the ingredients necessary, make a trip to the store to purchase them. Choose strawberries that are medium to large in size. For truly special occasions, try to find large strawberries that still have the stems on them. Make sure that you purchase chocolate that is made for melting so that you will get a nice, smooth mixture.
3. Gather all of your ingredients together and prepare them for the dipping process. Lay out a sheet of waxed paper on top of the cookie sheet. Put your various toppings into small bowls where you can easily dip and roll your strawberries. Make sure you have something to use as a utensil for dipping the berries into the chocolate.
4. Thoroughly wash and dry the strawberries. You can opt to leave the top on our cut them off (your choice). Make sure that the strawberries are thoroughly dry before you attempt to dip them into the chocolate mixture.
5. Melt the white chocolate mixture first. You may opt to cover the strawberry entirely in white chocolate or you may want to have a layer of white chocolate below the layer of the colored chocolate mixture. Both are a great choice so the decision is yours.
6. Melt together a mixture of milk and semi-sweet chocolate to your personal taste. If you prefer, you can use plain milk or semi-sweet chocolate alone. However, I've found that the best results are obtained with a good mixture of both. Make sure that the chocolate is smooth and silky.
7. Dip one strawberry at a time into the white chocolate (if you opt to use it at all). Make sure that the chocolate covers about two-thirds of the berry.
8. If you are going to use colored chocolate on top of the white, then allow the white chocolate strawberry to dry on the waxed paper. If you are doing some of the berries just in white chocolate, then immediately dip them into the toppings of your choice before placing them on the wax paper to dry.
9. While your white chocolate strawberries dry, dip the berries that you intend to do just in colored chocolate. Dip each berry one at a time into the mixture, covering at least one-half of the berry. Then roll it immediately into the topping of your choice. Place each on the waxed paper cookie sheet to dry.
10. Once your white chocolate strawberries are dry, you can dip them into the other chocolate mixture. Dip one berry at a time leaving a ridge of the white chocolate showing above the colored chocolate. Then dip them into the topping of your choice and/or put them on the waxed paper cookie sheet to dry.
11. Place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator to thoroughly cool the berries before attempting to remove them from the waxed paper.
12. Remove the strawberries from the waxed paper and serve as you wish. You can use them to decorate a plate or dish on serve them on their own. When serving them alone, I like to squiggle a bit of strawberry or chocolate syrup on the plate before putting the berry on it. Finish it with a bit of whipped cream or cool whip if you so choose.
Tags: white chocolate, waxed paper, Make sure, chocolate mixture, colored chocolate