Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

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Ingredients

24 fresh strawberries

5 ounces Callebaut dark chocolate

1 teaspoon grapeseed oil (or any taste-free vegetable oil)

5 ounces Callebaut white chocolate

1 teaspoon grapeseed oil (or any taste-free vegetable oil)

Directions

1. Wash the strawberries. Lay out onto a clean kitchen towel so they are not stacked and let the strawberries air dry completely as the chocolate will not stick on them if they are wet. You can leave the stems on.

2. When dry, put a toothpick into the stem end of each strawberry and put all the prepared berries onto a plate. The toothpicks will give you something to hold onto when you are dipping and garnishing your berries. Use the stronger rounded toothpicks.

3. Prepare a flat dish as a place to put the dipped strawberries. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit. This is where you will place your dipped strawberries while the chocolate is hardening. The strawberries need a flat surface so they don't roll onto each other. You could also use a parchment lined baking sheet.

4. For the best flavor, use a good grade of chocolate when you are making these chocolate dipped strawberry treats. Callebaut chocolate is a very good choice and works very well for chocolate dipping.

5.You will need two pots for melting the chocolate. In this recipe we are melting both dark chocolate and white chocolate.

You can use a double boiler for melting the chocolate or chocolate melting pots.

*Tip: The electric chocolate melting pot was around $10.00 to buy and if you are melting chocolate often is really a handy tool to have in your kitchen. We like the results and flavor we get with callebaut chocolate and we buy in block form but , you can also use chocolate chips or chocolate melting wafers.

6. If you are using block chocolate you need to first chop it into small pieces for even melting.

7. Melt your chocolate over low heat and add the 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to each pot of chocolate. Grapeseed oil is a good choice as it will not alter the flavor of the chocolate. Stir slowly and occasionally with a rubber spatula.

8. When the chocolate has melted, transfer each chocolate into a small glass 'dipping' bowl. Choose an appropriate vessel that you can easily dip the strawberries into. A small and deep shape works best. As you dip you will also rotate the strawberry to let the chocolate run on all the sides and give the excess chocolate a chance to drip off back into the dipping bowl.

9. Be sure to reserve about 1/3 of the white and dark chocolates and spoon into piping bags. When you are ready to garnish, you will cut the smallest amount off the tip of the bag to pipe the chocolate through. If you do not have piping bags you can use small plastic baggies.

10. Set up your working station with your chocolate bowls beside your prepared strawberries and the parchment lined plate ready to receive the dipped berries.

11. Take a strawberry by the toothpick and dip it into the chocolate, roll it in the chocolate being sure to cover all round the strawberry. Leave some red strawberry showing at the top where the stem is. The visual appearance of the dipped strawberries with a little bit of red left is very appealing. Allow the excess chocolate to drip off then place the dipped berry onto your plate lined with parchment paper.

12. Continue until all the berries are dipped. Let the chocolate dipped berries sit for about 5 minutes at room temperature and then transfer them into the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

*This is an important step. By allowing them to sit at room temperature first and then refrigerating, the chocolate should not crack and should be a lovely consistency when you bite into it.

13. Remove the dipped strawberries, cut a very small hole off the tip of the piping bag and proceed to pipe on the melted chocolates decorate the strawberries in any way you desire. As you see we did some where the strawberries first dipped in white chocolate, and some where the berries are dipped in dark chocolate.

ENJOY!

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