Valentine's Day Recipe: Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

This recipe is really as simple as "dip strawberries in melted chocolate," but I've included a few helpful notes and tips. Feel free to personalize your chocolate-covered strawberries--you can roll them in finely chopped nuts or drizzle them with melted white chocolate. Chocolate-covered strawberries are best eaten the day they are made.

Makes about 15

1 pint basket strawberries
5 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Finely chopped nuts, for sprinkling (optional)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Wash the strawberries and dry them very well. It is important that there are no droplets of water clinging to the berries, or else the chocolate will slide right off.

Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Heat the chocolate, stirring every so often, until it is completely melted and smooth. (Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.)

Remove the bowl from the heat, taking care to avoid splashing any water into the chocolate. Hold a strawberry by the stem and dip it into the melted chocolate, rotating the strawberry to coat all sides evenly. Set the chocolate-covered strawberry on the prepared baking sheet. If you like, you can roll the dipped strawberry in chopped nuts before setting it on the parchment. Continue to dip the strawberries, one at a time, in the chocolate.

Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator to firm up the chocolate, about 20 minutes.

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