Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Our first Strawberry Picking ~ Perfect For Valentines Day Indulgence!!

Hope this new year brings you loads of Happiness and Prosperity . We wish you all a very fabulous NEW YEAR ahead and Happy Valentines Day!!



I am so blessed to have a Strawberry patch open minutes from home. I have been waiting for Strawberry Picking for years and it finally happened and that too so close from my home.. just cant believe it. I know i sound so funny when i say that, yep i was that desperate. Not anymore, anytime i need some strawberries i just take my daughter along with me and then "Pick our own Strawberries".


I just cant explain how good i felt when i plucked the first strawberry fresh from the vine. Oh my baby, she just cant wait until the strawberries are cleaned. Also, we had hard time picking the right ripe ones as a lot of them were hiding. Oh my goodness, the strawberries were super sweet, juicy and succulent. And most of them ended as my daughter's dinner and brunch.



Anyhow i managed to save some and made these delicious chocolate covered strawberries for the very first time and to my surprise they turned out to be pretty cute and easy.

Ingredients:

• 32 ounces Semi sweet chocolate chips / Milk chocolate chips
• 4 - 5 tbsp Butter / Shortening
• 2 pounds fresh ripe firm Strawberries ( with stems if possible )
• White Chocolate( Optional )
• Crushed Almonds( Optional )
• Chopped Chocolate( Optional )
• Toothpicks( Optional )
• Parchment Paper( Optional )
• Styrofoam( Optional )
  

Preparation:

• Wash the strawberries and dry them on paper towels and let them dry for 1- 2 hours. Make sure there's no water left on the strawberries, as we want the chocolate to sit nice on the strawberries.
• Prick a toothpick on top of the strawberries and keep aside
• You can let the chocolate either in a double boiler method / in microwave. Personally i felt melting in the double boiler to be easy.
• For melting on the stove: Place a sauce pan filled 1/2 with water and heat under medium heat, let a glass mixing bowl sit on the sauce pan, add butter and once butter is melted, add chocolate chips and keep stirring continuously until melted and smooth.
• For melting in microwave: Place the chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl, and heat them in an interval of 30 seconds, and keep stirring until all melted and smooth.
• Dip the strawberries in chocolate and place them on parchment paper.

Note:

For perfect chocolate dipped strawberries, insert the dipped strawberries on styrofoam to let them dry

For fancier strawberries, dip the chocolate covered strawberries in chopped walnuts/almonds, sprinkles, chopped chocolate.

You can even drizzle some melted white chocolate over dried strawberries for that gourmet touch. I am going to do this for my next batch.

My delicious Strawberries are on their way to:

• Delicious Desserts
• Best Western desserts
• Cooking With Fruits
• Veggie/Fruit a Month

My Chocolate Covered Strawberries are on their way to 'Food Palette series - Brown'

P.S. Everyone has unique taste palette, so please adjust the ingredients according to your taste.