Chocolate- Tempering and Covered Strawberries

It's almost Valentine's Day, which I have always considered a horribly commercial holiday, but it's the only thing that we have to look forward to during these bleak months before the warm weather returns, so I'm going to make some hearts I guess. Before we get to that I figured I'd play around with some chocolate because you can't have Valentine's Day without chocolate. I know the idea of making your own chocolates can seem daunting but there are a few simple tricks that will help you make some impressive looking gift boxes.

We're starting off with the classic chocolate covered strawberries, but first I want to talk about tempering. This means that after melting your chocolate, you bring it back down to a temperature where is is still melted but not hot. If you've ever had a candy bar melt and then re harden you've probably seen the weird light spots that show up. Those spots are from the cocoa butter in the chocolate which can separate if not cooled the proper way. For a more technical and detailed lesson check here. I have used a thermometer for chocolate before but there is another method that I prefer that I have been using for years with consistently positive results.

Supplies:

- 12 oz. semisweet or bittersweet baking chocolate, NOT CHOCOLATE CHIPS

-4 oz. white baking chocolate

-1 lb. strawberries, washed and fully dried

One very important point that I would like to make before we get started. Be sure to use good quality baking chocolate that is made with cocoa butter. Chocolate chips are usually made with other types of fat that stay soft after they've melted and don't work right in this context. I've tried it before with filled chocolates and they had to stay refrigerated or else they'd turn into a puddle. It's bad.

The first thing you want to do is set up a double boiler to melt the chocolate. If you don't have one you can also place a glass bowl over a large pot. Fill the bottom pot with about an inch of water and turn to low. Chocolate will burn if heated too quickly, so be patient. roughly chop your chocolate bars and place 10 oz of your chocolate in the bowl and melt over low heat, stirring occasionally until fully melted. Remover from heat. Okay, so this is where the tempering comes in. Take the remaining 2 oz of chocolate and slowly add them a few pieces at a time to the melted chocolate and stir. They will melt and bring the temperature of the bowl down. Continue until the chocolate barely melts, remove any solid pieces if necessary. Your chocolate is now tempered.

While I was waiting for my chocolate to melt I rinsed and dried a dozen strawberries. The amount of chocolate that I made is enough for more, but I'm just showing you guys the one tray. Make sure that the strawberries are FULLY dry because any water in the chocolate will make it clumpy and completely unusable. I placed the strawberries on a baking sheet with parchment paper. When the chocolate was ready I took my strawberries one at a time and, gripping them by the leaves, dipped them into the chocolate. Swirl it around to cover the whole strawberry but try not to get the leaves. Lift it out of the chocolate and let the excess drip off. Set it back down on the tray. Continue this until all of your strawberries are covered. By the way, my six year old helped me dip these so if she did it so can you!

Technically you can be done here, but I like to add a little something extra. break up your white chocolate bar and place it in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 15-20 second increments and stir after each turn. White chocolate burns easily so you don't want to leave it in for more than 20 seconds at a time. Alternately you could use the double boiler method again but by this point I was a little impatient. When the white chocolate is fully melted you take a small spoonful and shake it over the tray. Honestly the more crazy you are with the white chocolate the better it looks. When you've added what you feel is enough, place in the refrigerator.

These have about a 3-4 day shelf life so try to gift them (or eat them) as soon as possible after making them. Place them in a cupcake liner and box them if you would like. They really are a great gift for friends, especially on Valentine's Day. Thank you for checking this out, it's always fun to be able to write about something that I am already familiar with instead of just learning it that day like what I've been doing recently. Check back later in the week and we'll make some more fun chocolate stuff.