Chocolate Covered Strawberries

You can always tell when spring has officially arrived. The signs are not always apparent in the weather but the signs are apparent in the produce section of your grocery store. Strawberries are abundant in the spring. Many grocery stores offer them at really reasonable prices during this season.

The abundant number of the red berries may have some of us excited about the season, but not so excited about eating nothing but strawberries for weeks on end. The buy-on-get-one-free offers are simply too great to pass up. You may find yourself swimming in berries if you're not careful. What to do with all of the berries? Make chocolate covered strawberries, of course.

I recently saw an advertisement for chocolate covered strawberries from a local chocolate factory. I was really shocked at the price demanded by the reputable store. I decided to do a little price comparison and discovered that the average cost of chocolate covered strawberries is: expensive. This inspired me to do a little money-saving research.

The expense of the treat makes it more appealing to me for some reason. This is not to imply that I want to run out and buy chocolate covered strawberries. It means that I want to find a way to make them myself. I figured that I could put the produce sales to some good use.

I thought that I would have to get expensive cocoa blocks made just for melting and dipping. However, it turns out that the best way to melt the chocolate is to use old-fashioned chips that can be purchased right in your local grocery store. This is great news for me because I hate to run around, although I'd be willing to for reasonably-priced chocolate covered strawberries.

The next piece of good news I came across is that I could use my microwave in the process. Making chocolate covered strawberries is actually pretty easy, in theory. However, it is important to follow the instructions carefully as to not scorch the chocolate.

Simply melt the chips in a microwave-safe bowl. It is important to use the defrost setting. Cooking the dip for your chocolate covered strawberries on high will scorch it. Wait until the dip is smooth. This usually takes two to three minutes on average.

There is a specific technique for dipping chocolate covered strawberries. This technique is quite simple. Just dip the berries into the mixture and shake the excess off as you withdraw it. Finally, give the chocolate covered strawberries a few swirls in a clockwise direction and set it on wax paper. The last step: enjoy!