It is time to appreciate seasonal fruits. They are round, red and crispy: here are the strawberries! It is melting, sweet and inescapable: here is the chocolate! Get them married for a summer dessert very easy to prepare: the chocolate covered strawberries.
A Carefully Melted Chocolate for Dipping Your Strawberries
For our recipe of chocolate covered strawberries we shall begin with a short lesson on the ideal method to melt chocolate: tempering. Tempering is the process used to get the chocolate from a solid to a liquid state, without changing the texture (chocolate may not get white) and flavor of chocolate , it’s a simple matter of chemistry, details of which we will save you from.
Because what matters for gourmands – and gourmets! – is to be able to obtain a nice smooth, liquid and shiny chocolate. The most important to temper chocolate, are heating temperatures: this temperature will depend on the chocolates you will use.
Using a chocolate thermometer is always recommended but is not essential. The amount of chocolate to use is also important, tempering will be simpler if we use more than 400 grams of chocolate.
Tempering Process for Dark Chocolate
Place the chocolate in a double boiler and melt it until the temperature reaches 50-55°C (122-155°F).
Cool the chocolate: remove from the water bath and allow the temperature to fall down to 27 or 28°C (78-80°F). Stir the chocolate gently to help the temperature to drop.
Once the chocolate cooled, put it back in the double boiler, replace hot water with cold water, gently heat it until temperature rises to 30-32°C (86-90°F). If the temperature rises too much, the chocolate will be covered with small white tracks. It will be necessary to start your chocolate tempering process again.
Your chocolate is now ready to be used. To keep it warm and at a temperature close to 30°C (86°F), place it on a warm plate.
Tempering Process for White and Milk Chocolate
The technique is identical, only temperature will vary. Use the same process with 2 to 3 degrees less for each step.
Here was our small lesson of chocolate tempering process. Now that your chocolate is melted well, let’s us it!
A Recipe of Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Let’s start with our recipe of chocolate covered strawberries: a perfect summer recipe, very simple to do now that you know chocolate tempering process on your fingertips.
Ingredients:
- 500 g of strawberries with their leaves and tails
- 500 g dark chocolate bar, milk chocolate or white chocolate according to your tastes
- Baking sheet
Wash and dry the strawberries well. Then refrigerate them while you melt the chocolate. Melt the chocolate of your choice by following our method detailed above.
Take each strawberry gently by the tail and dip it in melted chocolate. Then place it on the baking paper. Allow the chocolate to cool 45 minutes before serving and enjoy!
