How To Make Chocolate-Covered Strawberries — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn |Cooking With Amanda

I love everything about chocolate-covered strawberries. I love the crunchy melt-in-your-mouth shell and the cool sweet strawberry beneath. I love giving them as presents, and I love receiving them equally as much. And I especially love how easy they are to make at home — it's an afternoon project with a result that looks fancy no matter your candy-making skills...or lack thereof!

With a project as simple as this — "take strawberry, dip in chocolate" — the ingredients you use can really make a difference. You can certainly do this with your average bag of chocolate chips and basket of grocery-store strawberries, and in fact, that's a great idea for a rainy day project with kids. But if you really want to up the ante, spring for the fancy chocolate and pick up some super-ripe farmers market strawberries. It will really make a difference.

The only other trick to making chocolate-covered strawberries is that the strawberries must be very very dry. If you have any water left from rinsing or any sticky bruised areas, the coating doesn't "stick" to the strawberry as well. Drops of water can also make your chocolate seize up and become grainy as you dip. After rinsing the strawberries, I recommend patting them dry and then laying them out on a clean dish towel until they are completely dry.

While none of the techniques used here are overly complicated, here's a little more information about some of them if you'd like the extra help!

Wash and dry the strawberries. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set it nearby.

How To Make Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

What You Need

Ingredients
1 pint basket (1 pound) fresh strawberries
2 cups (12 ounces) dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1/2 cup (3 ounces) white chocolate, optional for drizzling

Equipment
Double-boiler or heatproof bowl and saucepan
Heatproof spatula
Parchment, wax paper, or Silpat
Baking sheet
Small plastic bag

Instructions

Wash and dry the strawberries. Rinse the strawberries under cool running water and gently pat dry. The strawberries need to be completely dry before dipping, so spread them out and let them air-dry if necessary.
Melt the dark chocolate. Fill the bottom of the double-boiler or saucepan with an inch or two of water and bring the water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Transfer all the chocolate into the top of the double-boiler or the heatproof bowl and set this over the simmering water. Let the chocolate melt, stirring occasionally, until no more lumps remain. Remove the bowl with the chocolate from heat. (See Recipe Notes)
Prepare your workspace. Set the bowl of melted chocolate in front of you on a towel. Place the dried strawberries to your left. Line a baking sheet with parchment and place this on your right. (Reverse if you are left-handed.)
Dip the strawberries. Working with one strawberry at a time, grasp the strawberry by the top leaves and dip it into the chocolate. Turn or swirl the strawberry as needed to completely coat it in chocolate. Lift the strawberry out and shake gently to remove excess chocolate.
Lay dipped strawberries on the baking sheet. Carefully lay the dipped strawberry on its side on the baking sheet. Repeat with dipping the remaining strawberries.
Let the chocolate set. Let the strawberries sit until the chocolate coating is set and dry to the touch. You can put the baking sheet in the fridge to speed this along.
Prepare the white chocolate drizzle. When the strawberries are ready, melt the white chocolate just as you did the dark chocolate. (Alternatively for this small amount of chocolate, melt it in 15 second bursts in microwave, stirring between each burst). Transfer the melted white chocolate to a small ziplock bag.
Drizzle strawberries with white chocolate. Push the melted white chocolate to one corner of the bag, then snip a small corner off the bag. Squeezing the bag gently, quickly drizzle the white chocolate over the strawberries. Use big sweeps, moving back and forth over the whole baking sheet. (See Recipe Notes)
Let the white chocolate set. Let the white chocolate drizzle set (or place the baking sheet in the fridge again for few minutes), then serve. Dipped strawberries can be kept for a few hours at room temperature. They can also be refrigerated for a few days, though they don't look as pretty.

Recipe Notes

More on Melting Chocolate: The Best Way to Melt Chocolate: Alice Medrich's Smart, Easy Method
More on Drizzling Chocolate: How to Drizzle Chocolate: The Plastic Bag Method

Want more smart tutorials for getting things done around the home?
See more How To posts
We're looking for great examples of your own household intelligence too!
Submit your own tutorials or ideas here!

(Image credits: Emma Christensen)