Last Minute Gifts: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Step 3 Techniques: Prep boiler and dip

First, clean your cooking pot and bowl. Prepare your ingredients by cutting open chocolate chip bags, and getting ready any additives. Do clean your strawberries, there is no telling what pesticides and fertilizers are used on them! A rinse and gentle rub with the thumbs is sufficient. Stick the toothpicks in the base of the strawberries as well, otherwise you risk frequently burning your fingers.

Prep the boiler: (assuming you had to improvise one)
1) Put about an inch to inch and a half of water in the pot, place colander in the pot, and place a paper towel in the colander. Don't worry when the paper towel soaks up some water.
2) Place glass or porcelain bowl in the colander, it's best if standing water does not touch bottom of bowl.
3)Turn stove on high and begin adding ingredients.

I used a whole bag of chocolate chips and 4 pieces of Ghirardelli in my dip. In retrospect, I would have liked to have added about 2 more pieces of Ghirardelli to really bring the espresso coffee taste to the forefront. Also, with 2LBs of strawberries I had just enough, so do buy another bag of chocolate chips for more strawberries. You might also want to evaluate the size of your bowl for larger batches. (HINT: 2LBs is plenty!)

Add all of your chocolate at once to your bowl, and stir frequently with the fork. Your chocolate chips are a reliable indicator for when your dip is ready, when you see no evidence of little chunks in the dip, your are ready to go. Before you begin dipping turn your burner down to medium to medium-high. Place a sheet of wax paper on the counter to make cleanup a breeze later on.

Comments

[LemonLily]

I just want to say, if your chocolate doesn't melt, don't add water! If you do, what will happen is that it will be clumper and turn to a paste. It will taste fine, like chocolate but a peanut butter consitancy. I kind of like that, but surely you want shiny, glazed strawberries, right? If it doesn't melt, just keep heating it up, lightly. You can also do it in the microwave, do 20-30 second "zaps" stirring every time you do a "zap." When it cools down after dipping a few strawberries, microwave it again. When it melts, use it as fast as you can. Because you don't want to waste energy and do it too many times. For kids, try halves of banana (or strawberry, of course) dipped in chocolate and sprinkle some rainbow sprinkles and/or nuts. Remember: nut allergies, and be careful of hot, melted chocolate.

[rae0620763]

I just put the chips directly in the pot on low heat. Saves an extra dish to wash ;-)

[mfunk]

Be careful! The direct heat can reduce your chocolate to a grainy, burnt mess in a hurry. I like the tuxedo strawberry by the way.

[RFilyaw]

Just a little pro-tip here. If anyone feels like making it a bit cheaper, but just as tasty, look for something in the grocery store that's near the chocolate chips called "Almond Bark". They have it both in milk and white chocolate flavors. It pretty much melts/hardens exactly the same, but has a slightly different taste. It's still made with cocoa, and it's still delicious.