Caramelized Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I’m not really a huge Valentines day person. Not a great way to start a recipe clearly geared towards Valentines day, but the truth is I’m not! And the other truth is I just love chocolate covered strawberries all year round and you DEFINITELY don’t have to be in any kind of relationship to enjoy them. I was inspired by these strawberries to create something a little more special than just a chocolate dipped strawberry.

I’m not even sure I can call this a “recipe” as such, so much as a tutorial and an idea of how to make the usual chocolate strawberry more interesting. But these strawberries are the perfect chance to get creative.

My suggestion this time is caramelized nuts for a crunchy twist, but you could really use any kind of topping you like, or even just chocolate! Really anything goes with a recipe like this. I just love how beautiful they are!

So if you fancy having a go at something a bit more special this year, give these show stoppers a try!

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Caramelized Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Ingredients

1 Punnet of Fresh Strawberries
75g Caramelized Nuts. Any nut is fine.
100g Dark Chocolate (preferably 70% cocoa solids)
100g Vegan White Chocolate

Steps

1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. My baking tray is 38cm x 25cm.

2. Place the nuts into a food processor and pulse a few times until you have small chunks. You don’t want to grind them too much that they become powder as we still want some texture.

3. Wash and dry the strawberries thoroughly. Any remaining water can affect how the chocolate sits on the strawberry. Leave the strawberries whole with the green stalk still attached. This will help with dipping the strawberry and also with eating it.

4. In a heat proof bowl, break the chocolate and microwave on a medium power for 30 seconds. Keep melting in 10 second increments until the chocolate is nearly melted, then stir to melt the last pieces. Alternatively place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl and fill a saucepan with 1 inch of water. Heat the water so it is simmering then place the bowl with the chocolate in over the water ensuring the water does not touch the bowl. Stir until melted.

5. Dip the strawberries into the chocolate until coated and place on the parchment paper. If you are coating with nuts, do this straight away. If you are doing a chocolate drizzle just coat. Place the tray into the fridge for about 15 minutes before adding the chocolate drizzle. I just used a teaspoon to drizzle the chocolate over the coated strawberries. Place back into the fridge for about 10 minutes.

6. Allow the strawberries to come to room temperature before eating for best results. Eat the same day.