How To Make Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

Indulgent Edible Black and White Arrangements

Chocolate-dipped strawberries make the most indulgent treat, perfect for Valentine’s Day, birthdays and any days you want to impress someone precious with an impressive dessert or snack.

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The first strawberry crop of the year at my allotment always turns into a hefty portion of overindulgent chocolate-dipped strawberries with fresh cream or ice cream. Or both! Then we go back to being good and enjoying the healthy stuff nature offers us with so little intervention required on our part.

Because I don’t have a massive garden, I got an allotment. About a third of my plot was covered with strawberries when I got it years ago, and I never removed them. I hardly paid much attention to this part of the lot, apart from removing the weeds, bed it with straw (to deter the slugs from eating MY fruits) or occasionally watering it on the five hot days a year the UK is blessed with if we are lucky!

Yet this tiny plot gives me each year the most beautiful and bountiful crop of plump, sweet, aromatic and flavoursome organic strawberries to last me until the following summer in various forms of conservation.

After the initial palatable debauchery, I still have plenty of strawberries left to make low sugar, spicy jam, a few upside-down cakes (a similar recipe to rhubarb cake), a more celebratory summer fruit cake and freeze enough portions for breakfast to last me until the next crop. And all this with minimum investment and maximum benefit!

The health benefits of strawberries are tremendous (for the duration of a certain presidential mandate, I loathed this word, but the poor term has no guilt, so back in proper use!)

Have you ever thought about why strawberries have a heart shape? Perhaps for the same reason walnuts have a brain shape!

Humans need healthy foods to function healthily, and a tiny portion of strawberries (apparently, just eight fruits make a serving) have the power to keep cancers, heart disease, strokes, diabetes and all sorts of nasty things away from our bodies.

Of course, this applies to organic strawberries. Pack them with pesticides to grow fifty crops per summer or keep the bugs away and rest assured the narrative quickly becomes the opposite of the above.

I encourage everyone who has a little patch of land to grow a few plants; they will expand each year, and each year will give you beautiful red fruit you will love. Unless you have an allergy – this is rare, but it happens; please be careful and mindful of others close to you when you delve into a bowl of strawberries or bake/cook using them.

For this indulgent, decadent and sinful chocolate-dipped strawberries recipe, I needed exactly what it says: chocolate and strawberries.

To lessen the guilt (yeah, right!), I chose dark chocolate (a combination of 70% and 80% cacao). I look at it this way: dark chocolate is practically a fruit since cacao grows in trees and requires little added refined sugar to become a bar. Haha!

But I had to indulge others too, so white chocolate made it on the shopping list. This only happens once in four or five years, as white chocolate is the worst because it only contains tons of refined sugar and hydrogenated oils.

Additionally, I used freeze-dried raspberries, chopped almond flakes and chocolate sprinkles for decoration. And then, further ruined the health benefits big-time with a very fat but organic whipped cream!

Usually, ice cream (organic or not, super-fat or not, extra-sweet or not) does the job efficiently! Because this is a recipe for indulgent chocolate-dipped strawberries!

Ingredients for chocolate-dipped strawberries

A bowl of organic strawberries (about 500 g or 20-30 different size fruits), washed and kept in the fridge until used. Chilled fruits will help melted chocolate harden faster and thus reduce the spillage and the mess (but don’t expect miracles – cooking is a mucky business!)

One and a half large bar of dark chocolate (minimum 70% cacao). I usually buy Fairtrade or organic, quality chocolate, never cooking bars (if you pick one of each type and read the labels, you will see why).

One small bar of white chocolate – organic or not, expensive or not won’t make much difference, so forget about it and indulge!

Double cream – the UK’s super-rich version of the American whipped cream. It is a little tricky to beat as it can spoil quickly being so fat. If in any doubt, a tube of whipped cream will do.

Optional – a few scoops of quality ice cream, preferably homemade.

Decoration (optional): chocolate sprinkles, freeze-dried raspberries, shredded coconut, chopped almond flakes, ground hazelnuts, etc.

Method

Prepare the working table by placing a sheet of baking parchment paper under a cooling rack.

Whip the double cream in a ceramic bowl and place it in the fridge.

Fill two pans about a quarter each with water and bring to boil. Reduce the heat.

Break each chocolate and place in two different ceramic bowls (one for each colour).

Place the bowls on the pans making sure their bottom does not touch the boiling water. The chocolate will melt gradually from the steam, or bain-marie as the method is called.

Stir occasionally and turn the heat off when the chocolate is completely melted (this step should take 4-5 minutes).

Carefully (and using oven gloves) remove the bowls from the pans and place them on trivets close to your working area.

Ideally, the strawberries will have a little stem for easier manoeuvring. Hold each fruit by the stem and dip in either colour melted chocolate, allow the excess to drip, then place on the cooling rack. Repeat until half of the fruit quantity is used.

Before the chocolate on the strawberries hardens, dip a part of the covered fruit in your chosen decoration or drop lines of the opposite colour chocolate using a teaspoon.

Optionally, combine the colours, stir a little and dip the strawberry in the mixed chocolate; the visual effect is beautiful!

If you have help available, it would be a good idea to divide the tasks as the melted chocolate will harden quite quickly.

Cover all strawberries in chocolate and decorate as you please, then place the rack in the fridge for complete cooling (about half an hour to an hour).

With the leftover chocolate, I created some messy patterns on the recycled baking parchment. They also went into the fridge. I used them to decorate the finished dish alongside the whipped cream I swirl-piped into serving bowls.

For ice cream, two scoops (preferably different flavours) should be enough to complement the super-rich chocolate-dipped strawberries.

How to pair chocolate-dipped strawberries

If you are incredibly posh, champagne is the obvious choice. For me, a good quality prosecco was good enough, and, in all honesty, any bubbly would work.

I did get a bitter palate at first, but I guess I’ll have to check with the posh people to find out if this is how it is supposed to be!

I focused on the strawberries as they were the star of this recipe, and the taste was exquisite!

On other occasions, I simply paired chocolate-dipped strawberries with a cappuccino (which is not a posh whim but a mere daily delight to the connoisseurs and coffee aesthetes. Or addicts, like me.)

Of course, part or all of the whipped cream or ice cream made it to the steaming cup of cappuccino for more palatable indulgence.

Casual, nothing fancy!

On occasions, chocolate-dipped strawberries make a beautiful visual addition to a unique, celebratory cake, a Valentine’s special or a tray of cupcakes.

Enjoy, whichever way you choose to serve them!

I genuinely don’t know a better way to start the summer than by enjoying a nice portion of decadent chocolate-dipped strawberries!

I hope this recipe inspired you to make yours! Please drop a comment with your preferred decoration designs or pairings and spread the love by sharing this recipe. Thank you!

Indulgent Edible Black and White Arrangements