If you love chocolate covered strawberries, we’ll tell you how easy it is to make them. All you’ll need is fresh strawberries, dark chocolate, a microwave safe bowl, and a microwave oven.
>Next, look for large fresh strawberries. You will want to smell them before you buy them. If they smell like sulfur or smell strange, don’t buy them. Some producers soak their strawberries in sulfites to preserve them, but then they lose their taste. Furthermore, they can be well past their prime and still look fairly good after treatment with sulfites. It is important to use large, fresh strawberries. They should be bright red and slightly shiny.
You will also need a way to melt your chocolate. You could use a double boiler of a fondue pot, which are the usual methods for melting chocolate, or you could use the microwave method. We prefer the microwave method because it’s simple and does not require expensive kitchenware.
Use a two-cup Pyrex brand or other type of microwave-safe bowl. Make sure to buy one with a snap-on cover for storage. We purchased ours at Walmart. A set of two bowls with covers cost about $5.
We are now ready to prepare some delicious chocolate covered strawberries.
Wash the strawberries and pat them dry with a towel so that the chocolate will stick. Do not remove the green leafy crowns, because you will use that to hold and dip the strawberries. Next, break up the chocolate bars and place the pieces in the bowl. Chocolate will easily burn if overheated. The trick with using a microwave is to use a very low power setting. We use power setting 3.
The idea is to soften the chocolate, but not boil it. Melt the chocolate in one minute increments at power level 3. After each time segment, stir the melting chocolate. You want the chocolate to be very thick, not soupy. It may initially take 5 or 6 minutes to melt 3 or 4 bars of chocolate. Be very careful not to burn the chocolate or you will alter the flavor.
When all of the chocolate is melted and is about the consistency of peanut butter, it is ready to be served. Place the bowl of melted chocolate in the middle of a plate and surround it with strawberries. Simply dip the strawberries in the chocolate and enjoy them. Use caution when tasting the first strawberry to make sure that the chocolate is not too hot. Don’t forget that the chocolate should be thick, but not soupy.
The best reason for using the Pyrex microwave safe bowl with the cover is now you can now store your leftover chocolate in the refrigerator until next time you get a craving for this delectable snack. Simply add more chocolate to the bowl and melt it again following the steps listed above.
To enhance the flavor even further and turn this into a real treat for your friends, prepare the chocolate covered strawberries in advance, place them on a sheet of kitchen parchment paper or waxed paper, and refrigerate them. This seems to enhance the flavor and turns the chocolate into a crunchy coating. Mmmmmm!
This snack goes well with a nice bottle of Merlot wine and a warm fire.