World Chocolate Day is on July 7. To celebrate we share how to make chocolate dipped strawberries!

Fancy!

These fancy decadent delights may seem like they might be frightfully difficult to make – but nothing could be further from the truth. Chocolate covered strawberries are essentially easy to make. There are only two ingredients after all – strawberries and melted chocolate. Well, and time, if you want to count that as an ingredient.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Ingredients

1 pint (2 cups) medium-large strawberries (18 to 20 strawberries)
1 /2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon neutral flavored edible oil (like sunflower or avocado)

Optional Ingredient
Some folks like to add a little heat to this treat. The kick of chili is great with chocolate. I use 1/ 4 teaspoon chili powder.

Steps

Step 1. Gently rinse strawberries and gently pat dry. Leave the green leaves (the former calyx) on the strawberries.

Completely dry the berries before you dip them. If they are still wet they impact the melted chocolate very negatively and cause it to “seize.”

Step 2. Line baking sheets with waxed paper. These dipped strawberries can stick to foil or parchment – and the plastic wrap is no fun try to use.

Step 3. In a small pan (1 quart saucepan), melt chocolate chips and shortening (a softening agent). Use a low heat and stir frequently. Remove pan from heat. And work quickly on this next step.

Step 4. Dip lower half of each strawberry into chocolate mixture.
Hold them them by the calyx (green leaves) or stems to dip. This helps keep the leaves looking well too.

Hold this dipped strawberry over the pot for a few seconds to allow excess chocolate to drip back into saucepan.

Step 5. Place these chocolaty delights on your waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with the optional toppings mentioned below.

Step 6. Refrigerate uncovered about 30 minutes or until chocolate is firm, or until ready to serve.

Store

Store dipped strawberries – covered – in refrigerator so chocolate does not soften, nor the strawberries go bad. You have about 2 days after making them to enjoy your treat. They generally start to go bad very quickly. That always happens when you wash strawberries.

Alternatives in Creating This

Dipping

It doesn’t have to be semi-sweet chocolate, you could use milk chocolate.  Or, you could use white vanilla baking chips. You could even use butterscotch baking chips – but I think their flavor goes better with apple. I use apple wedges.

Softening Agent

The oil helps keep the chocolate from scorching.  It is also important to keep the chocolate soft and liquid as you are dipping. You can omit this oil if you use a double boiler to melt your chocolate and work really fast.

I have used unsalted butter instead of oil and all I can say is YUM. It is a tad tricky though – because butter can easily burn.

Clean Up

Do make sure the chocolate left in the pan has cooled before you spoon it up to savor. It is hot and can burn your tongue. (And just how would I know?!) This is very important if cooking with children.

Optional Toppings

Sprinkle the just-dipped berries with a number of choices:
finely crushed peppermint candy
finely chopped pistachios
chocolate sprinkles
curls of bittersweet chocolate

If you used chili with your chocolate, a fine dusting of cocoa powder seems to really make the flavor pop.

Enjoy!
The Savor Team

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