When the weather heats up, the last thing I want to do is heat up my oven and bake. How do I satisfy my chocolate fix during the hot and humid New York summer? Chocolate covered strawberries! Just thinking about red, juicy strawberries enrobed in sweet, velvety chocolate makes my mouth water.
I love using long stemmed strawberries but they are not always available. These are just regular strawberries dipped in melted milk chocolate. I melted the chocolate using the double boiler method. If you have never done this, it’s simple! Fill a pot with an inch or so of water and over low heat bring to a simmer. Then place a heatproof bowl on top of the pot. Make sure the bowl is not too small, it shouldn’t fall into the pot, you should be able to remove the bowl easily. The steam that hits the bottom of the bowl will gently melt the chocolate. Be careful because the bowl will get hot. If you want to dress up the classic chocolate dipped strawberry, melt some white chocolate and drizzle it on top once the milk chocolate is set and dry.
Not so confident in your drizzling abilities? Here is my new favorite idea. Crush up some pretzels. First dip the strawberry in chocolate and then immediately in the pretzels. These are ridiculously good! The sweet and salty combination is divine.
If your strawberries are invited to a black tie event you might want to try these. What is cuter than a strawberry in a tiny tuxedo?
These are a little more difficult to do. The best strawberries to use are big and flat. The bigger the better (and easier). First dip the strawberries in melted white chocolate.
They are delicious just like this! They can also be drizzled with milk chocolate or dipped in crushed pretzels. However, if you want them to wear tiny tuxedos, allow them to dry completely. Then tilt the strawberry to one side and dip it in milk chocolate. Then do the same for the other side.
The last step is to add the buttons and bow tie. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a tiny round tip and fill with melted chocolate. Pipe three buttons and two triangles for a bow tie.
I bet you could use an edible food coloring marker to draw on the buttons and bow tie, but I haven’t tried it. Let me know if you try it!
PS-What is your favorite no bake dessert?