"14 Days of Angels Baking Valentine Memories!" They're not just for Valentine's Day!
There’s not anything more romantic than red roses and chocolate covered strawberries on Valentine’s Day. They are both a beautiful gift to give to someone special. Today I’m making half of that romantic picture – the Chocolate Covered Strawberries. And, how about making them with fresh strawberries from a local farmer or farmers' market?
This is an easy way to make that romantic treat happen. Pick out some beautiful strawberries from the produce department at your favorite grocery store. You probably don’t want to purchase them any sooner than one day before you are going to serve them or gift them.
You’ll want to gift them as fresh as you can, making sure they are beautiful on all sides. You also want to serve them no longer than a day or two after you make them. They are fairly perishable due to the fact that the strawberries continue to age as they ripen every day.
This does not have to be an expensive project. You don’t need to make dozens of them as a gift for that special person. Make just a few and you’ll still come out as a Valentine’s Day hero.
Makes 12-18 medium to large chocolate covered strawberries.
Prepare the melting bowl:
Have a separate microwave safe bowl ready for melting each color of the chocolate melting candies. The bowls should be deeper than they are wide, to make it easier to dip the strawberries.
Prepare your pan:
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper for the chocolate covered strawberries to dry on before placing them in a gift box or on a serving platter.
Collect your romantic Ingredients:
24 oz box of Strawberries, or more depending on the sizes of the berries
2 5-ounce bags of high-quality chocolate candy melts.
1 5-ounce bag of white candy melts.
Set up your work space:
- Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Rinse your strawberries and lay them on paper towels or a kitchen towel to dry. You can also pat them dry with a paper towel, then let them lay for an hour or so to make sure they are completely dry. You don’t want any water to mix with the chocolate candy melts or the chocolate can seize up and not retain that melting quality as you dip the rest of the berries.
- Melt your candy melts in the microwave, using separate microwave safe bowls, keeping the colors separate. Follow the instructions on the packages. I use 2 cup bowls that are deeper than they are wide so dipping is easier. My bowls are about 3” wide and 4” deep. They’re just little soup bowls from my ceramic dinnerware set.
- You don’t want the candy melts real hot or the strawberries may cook and liquify on you.
When the strawberries are dry, hold each one by the stem, pulling the leaves back out of the way, and dip them into the chocolate melts so the chocolate covers about ¾ of each berry.
- Tap each strawberry gently on the side of the bowl, letting the excess drip back into the bowl.
- Lay each strawberry on the parchment paper, leaving at least an inch or two between each one. If you find the chocolate dip is pooling too much under each berry on the parchment paper, use a butter knife or small offset spatula to lightly scrape some of the chocolate from under each strawberry, letting it drip back into the bowl.
- After they dry, use a fork to drizzle a different color on top of the strawberries, swinging the fork back and forth to make pretty drizzling patterns.
- After the drizzling has dried you can pack them in gift boxes or on a serving platter. I like to display them under a glass dome for a day or two at the most. If the dome is airtight, they will begin to liquify. Like I said, it’s best to serve them the same day or by the next day for the freshest flavors.
- For gift-giving, support the berries with small pieces of clean crumpled up parchment paper.
Tips:
- Use edible gold as an accent on the dipped strawberries. You can find the edible gold online if your craft store does not carry it.
- Pick out the best-looking boxes containing 2 dozen strawberries from the produce department at your favorite grocery store. The quantity of strawberries in each 6-ounce, 12-ounce or 24-ounce box will vary due to different sizes in each box. I like to get extras just in case some are not gift worthy.
- High quality candy melts are easy to work with. You can them pour out the right amount you need for covering your fruit, and save the rest in the bag for the next project. I prefer the Ghirardelli brand or another high-quality chocolate for melting. They have a much better flavor and have a silky mouth-feel. The finished product is very nice looking. Grocery stores and craft stores carry high quality melting candies as well as their own store brand. I have found that some of the lower cost store brands come out chalky and have an “off” taste, detracting from the flavor of the berries.
- Usually, I use the chocolate melts for coating the strawberries and the white ones for drizzling over the chocolate for a pretty contrast. I also switch it up for a pretty presentation by dipping some of the strawberries in white candy melts and drizzling chocolate over the white. If I have pink or lavender candy melts on hand, I’ll use them for drizzling.
- After drizzling the accent candy melts, sprinkle bright or shiny colored sugars so they attach to the drizzle lines, to give them another dimension.
- Some people like to use white candy melts and change up the colors by using food coloring in them. I’ve tried that or even food coloring gel and have not had good luck with that, so I just purchase the colors of candy melts that I need. Any extras can always be sealed up in their bags and save for a future project.
- Get crazy and use non-traditional colors of candy melts, and try out some of the newer sprinkles, such as Unicorn themed sprinkles.
This is a fun Valentine project, and you can make extra batches on different days to spread out the gift-giving and the process. They are especially delicious and sweeter when local strawberries are in season. People love receiving chocolate covered strawberries. It’s all about “Baking your own Memories!”
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