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Prep time
40 minutes
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Cook time
5 minutes
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makes
15 to 20
Author Notes
Chocolate-covered strawberries usually pop up around Valentine’s Day. They’re covered in waxy chocolate, nicely decorated, and sold in extravagant boxes—though ridiculously overpriced. The perfect thing to give to your loved one, but $40 for a dozen strawberries? Pass! You can make this simple treat even more special (and for much less money) in under an hour.
Most importantly, the strawberries have to be dry, otherwise the chocolate won’t adhere and set properly. You can use whatever type of chocolate you like best—dark, semisweet, or milk—but make sure it’s high quality, and in a block or bar, not chips. Chocolate chips contain additional ingredients to preserve their shape and texture after baking, which is why they’re not a great candidate for this recipe.
Temperature also plays a big role in all of this. Before you get started, make sure the strawberries are at room temperature. Cold strawberries have the tendency to sweat going from the cold fridge to warm kitchen to warmer chocolate, which would prevent the chocolate from sticking.
When it comes to melting the chocolate, I’m happy using the microwave. I find it faster, plus it saves me from cleaning the extra dishes used in a double boiler. Tempering the chocolate gives it a subtle shine and pleasant snappiness. My go-to method is saving a quarter of the chocolate, then mixing that into the melted chocolate. Is this the most exact way to temper chocolate? Absolutely not! But it gets the job done. Optional but recommended: Coconut oil makes the melted chocolate glossier and easier to work with. It also yields a delightful shell.
I highly suggest making these the day of or day before you plan to give them away; any sooner than that and the leaves will start to wilt. —Carolina Gelen
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Ingredients
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1 pound
large ripe strawberries, at room temperature
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6 ounces
(170 grams) dark or semisweet chocolate, chopped (1 cup)
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1 teaspoon
refined coconut oil (optional)
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2 ounces
(56 grams) white chocolate, chopped (⅓ cup)
Directions
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Place a sheet pan in the freezer.
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Lay a clean kitchen towel on a work surface. Thoroughly wash the strawberries with room-temperature tap water, then dump them onto the towel. Gently move them around to dry. Now use another kitchen towel or paper towel to pick up each strawberry and make sure there is no remaining water or moisture. Transfer the dried strawberries to a dry kitchen towel.
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Place roughly three-quarters of the chocolate in a mug or a tall, cylindrical dish. Melt for 60 to 75 seconds in the microwave, mixing at 30-second intervals. (You can also do this in a double boiler.) Once melted, mix in the remaining chocolate and 1 teaspoon of coconut oil (if using). In a separate dish, melt the white chocolate using the same method (but no need for any oil here).
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Take the sheet pan out of the freezer and line it with parchment paper.
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Dry each strawberry one last time. Drizzle a quarter of the melted white chocolate on top of the dark or semisweet chocolate, then use a skewer or chopstick to lightly swirl—not too much! You want the colors to stay separate. Grab the strawberry by the leaves (or spear the stem with a skewer or chopstick), then drag and roll it across the surface of the chocolate; this shallow horizontal dip yields a marbled pattern, versus a deep vertical dip, which blends the colors too much. Hold the strawberry over the mug and shake the excess chocolate off. Place the chocolate-covered strawberry on the lined sheet pan. Repeat until no white chocolate remains, then add more white chocolate and repeat. (If you’d like, you can drizzle any remaining chocolate over the strawberries.)
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Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or up to 1 day before serving. If you’re refrigerating for more than 1 hour, transfer to an airtight container.
Carolina is a resident at Food52. She's also one of the hosts of Choose Your Own Recipe Adventure, our YouTube show where our Food52 readers pick the ingredients and techniques for a brand new recipe. Carolina recently immigrated to the U.S. from Transylvania, a place she spent most of her life. She continues to get inspired by the classic Romanian and Hungarian foods she was raised on, creating approachable, colorful, and fun recipes. For more cooking ideas and candid moments, check out her Instagram @carolinagelen.
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