Chocolate Covered Strawberries

My family all adore chocolate covered strawberries, so we make them several times a year for various functions. Whenever I receive solid chocolate as a gift and can't eat it, I save it to chop up and dunk strawberries in! You may say, how do you have so much chocolate you can't eat it? That's crazy talk! To you I say, would you have eaten the eight pounds of Easter bunnies I received last year?




Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Obviously, you're going to need chocolate and strawberries. The quantities leave plenty of room for error - you'll need to find what works for you, based on the size of your strawberries and how thickly you coat them in chocolate. I used about 1.5 pounds of chopped chocolate bunnies to two quarts of strawberries (maybe it was three? I'm pretty sure it was two).

Set up a double boiler - a saucepan with an inch or two of water in the bottom, topped with a bowl that can sit on top without touching the water.

Dump your chopped chocolate in the bowl and bring the water to a simmer over medium heat. Constantly stir the chocolate, adjusting the heat as necessary to allow for slow, smooth, even melting. (Tip: Do NOT allow any water to touch the chocolate. This will cause it to seize, and once that happens, it's awfully tough to fix.)

Once the chocolate has melted, dip the strawberries. I find the best way to do this is to grip the stem/leaves and dunk the strawberry. If the chocolate is not deep enough to dunk, lay the strawberry on its side at an angle and rotate it to coat all sides.

Cool the strawberries on cookie sheets covered in waxed paper. I often cool and store mine in the refrigerator so they harden faster. If it's warm and/or humid, you will need to do this, and be very careful transporting them, as they melt and fall apart quickly in this type of weather.

If you want to decorate them further, you can try the following:
-Drizzle with a contrasting melted chocolate (white, dark, colored candy melts)
-Sprinkle with finely chopped contrasting chocolate
-Sprinkle with shots/sprinkles/jimmies (or whatever you call 'em in your neck of the woods!)
-Brush with pearl dust
-Sprinkle with cake glitter

If you have other ideas for fun decorations, please leave them in the comments!

**A special thanks to Auntie Jody for emailing me the pic from her camera!!!**