Since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d post a related recipe. I have always loved Chocolate Covered Strawberries. I think that the two flavors go together very well. With that said, I have not always been very successful at making them perfectly. Specifically sometimes the chocolate didn’t exactly stick or I didn’t like the little chocolate foot at the bottom of each strawberry which is created from when they are placed on parchment paper. So I did some research and well, those issues are now long gone! Here are a few important things that I leaned about how to make the perfect Chocolate Covered Strawberries:

1. Simply use chocolate chips for the dipping. No need for cream!

2. Use a little vegetable oil, it gives the chocolate a bit of a shine.

3. Strawberries should be absolutely dry.

4. Water is chocolate’s enemy.

5.  Use good quality chocolate chips.

6. Use skewers to dip strawberries and use floral foam to hold skewers vertical.

7. Place strawberries in the fridge for 30 minutes until the chocolate becomes nice and firm.

8. When using ground pistachio, simply sprinkle over the chocolate instead of dipping it.

9. White chocolate is more difficult to work with.

10. Make them for and share them with the people you love!

Ingredients

 

 15 strawberries
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate (milk or white chocolate)
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup pistachios, finely ground
15 long wooden skewers

Before you being, make sure that there is room in your fridge to store the strawberries. Place floral foam in a bowl and cover with water. Once the water has been absorbed by the foam, you are ready!


Some people like to melt their chocolate in the microwave. I personally prefer melting my chocolate using a double boiler. Simply add 2 cups of water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Place chocolate chips in a bowl and place on top of the pot. Add vegetable oil and stir until chocolate has melted and has a smooth texture.

Make sure that the strawberries are completely dry. Place a skewer at the bottom of the strawberry.

Dip in the melted chocolate. Gently roll the skewer so that the excess chocolate drips back into the bowl.

Once you are done dipping allow the chocolate to dry off just for about 30 seconds. Then evenly sprinkle the ground pistachio on the chocolate covered strawberries. I found that dipping the strawberries in the ground pistachio was easier, however, sprinkling provided a more even coating and it looked better esthetically.

Once done with all the strawberries, place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

For this post I chose to cover some of the strawberries with white chocolate for variety. I have to say that I am not a fan of white chocolate, personally, I am a fan of dark or semi-sweet chocolate. When using the white chocolate the end product has the same colors as the Iranian flag!

Presentation wise you can keep the strawberries on the skewers and create a bouquet by adding a bunch of fresh mint or simply serving them without the skewers! The inspiration for the bouquet and some good tips came from Nita Gill’s video.

Either way, you’ll make some people very happy with these delicious Chocolate Covered Strawberries!