Chocolate Covered Strawberry Hearts
Perfect for Valentine's Day or any other special occasion, these chocolate covered strawberry hearts are a simple, healthy treat that will surely be appreciated by those you love.
Servings 12 strawberries
Calories 67kcal
Ingredients
- 12 strawberries
- 150 g chocolate (Easier with melting chocolate)
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash and dry your strawberries. It is important to dry the strawberries well as the chocolate won't stick as well to wet strawberries. Also, any water that drips into your melted chocolate can cause the chocolate to seize.
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave until it is just melted. I love using these double boiler inserts for this sort of recipe because they are also handy for making your own lotions and other DIY cosmetics. You can also find special chocolate melting machines that will help keep the temperature just right for keeping the chocolate tempered.
- Cut the top stem part off of your strawberries.
- Cut a small triangle out of the center of the cut part of the strawberries, rounding off the edges if necessary to make them look like strawberry hearts.
- Push a lollipop stick or skewer partway into the bottom of the strawberry. Don't push too far or you will go all the way through the delicate strawberry, and it won't stay on the stick. If you are having a hard time getting them to stay on the sticks, you can dip the tips of the sticks into some melted chocolate before pushing them into the strawberries.
This also works much better with smaller, firmer strawberries. Larger strawberries have a somewhat hollow center that doesn't grab onto the skewers well and their added weight means they are more likely to fall. - Carefully dip the strawberry hearts into the melted chocolate, pull them out, and let the excess chocolate drain off. If you are using small enough strawberries, you can lightly tap off the excess chocolate. Otherwise, use a knife to help pull off some of the excess chocolate as needed. Be very gentle or the strawberries will fall off the sticks.
- If you are having a hard time with the last step, it is most easily done by using room temperature strawberries and/or using a special chocolate made for melting/dipping. You can also choose to cover the strawberries in the chocolate before pushing the lollipop stick into them if you have larger strawberries that don't bear the weight of the chocolate well.
- Stand the chocolate covered strawberry hearts up in a cake pop stand, some styrofoam or prop them up some other way until they cool and the chocolate hardens. (t I was able to hold them up well in a glass jar filled with coffee beans.)
- If you like, you can also cover other fruit with chocolate. I tried slicing apples and cut the slices with heart-shaped cookie cutters.
- Give your hearts a special touch by decorating them with ribbons. You can also decorate the dark chocolate by drizzling white chocolate over top or by dipping the hearts into other toppings while the chocolate is still melted. I kept mine plain and simple, but you can experiment and make them your own! Enjoy!
Video
Notes
The amount of chocolate used will depend on how thickly you are covering the strawberries, which will also affect the nutritional information, of course.
You'll need to melt more chocolate than you'll actually use to be able to easily dip the strawberries in the chocolate.
Overheating the chocolate when melting it can untemper it. This may make the chocolate look dull when it cools again. While it only really affects the appearance, you can add some shine back by either re-tempering the chocolate or adding a bit of butter to the melted chocolate. Another easy option is to use candy melts or melting chocolate instead.
These strawberries are best served immediately or soon after making them. They are best served and eaten at room temperature.
Storing them in the refrigerator can cause them to "sweat" when they are removed from the cold. To help avoid that, store them in a container over several sheets of an absorbent paper like paper towels. Dessicant packages can also help abosrb excess humidity.
If you need to store them for more than a couple of days, you can freeze them, but frozen chocolate-covered strawberries should be served and eaten frozen. Thawing frozen strawberries will result in soft berries.
Nutrition
Serving: 1strawberry | Calories: 67kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 54mg | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin C: 7.1mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.4mg