Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries


I have had requests from a couple of bachelor/college-student friends for easy recipes that they can make. I think my grasp of "easy" in the kitchen is distorted due to the fact that I think that everything is easy...some things just take more time than others!

I also realize that they were probably asking for meals that would sustain them through a work shift or a long day of classes, not a sexy, easy dessert idea. I guess I'll put on my thinking cap and work on that one, but this is a start.

These take about 8 minutes to make, and if you have a hot date, they will surely impress. Serving these up will get you BIG bonus points. The chocolate is not tempered, so it sticks to the plate (this is what makes them differ from the professional variety, I guess) but that is the sexy part of this dish: scraping and licking the chocolate off of the plate.

If you use ripe, red strawberries and good chocolate, that's all you need for this treat to be perfect.

All you need is a small sauce pot and a glass or metal bowl (or your double boiler). The bowl should fit in the pot but rest on the top edge so that the bottom is not touching the bottom of the pot. (does that make sense?) Simply put an inch of water in the pot, put the bowl on top of that with about a cup of good dark chocolate chips in it. Once the water boils the chocolate will begin to melt. Stir it a couple of times until the chocolate is melted.

Wash and dry 1 basket of ripe strawberries. No need to take the leaves off; you'll use them as the handle for dipping. Then, dip each strawberry in the chocolate until it is coated to your liking, and arrange them on a plate. You could also arrange them on wax paper and pop them in the fridge for later; they actually come out a little cleaner this way.

I suppose you could get creative with the chocolate and add a pinch of salt or some vanilla or almond extract, but honestly, there is no need as long as the chocolate you use is decent. I used good old Ghirardelli....

chocolate sticks to plates...

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