Tuesday Tip: Dipped Fruit

Dipping fruit in chocolate is easy, fun and delicious. Now that we are in berry season, I would like to recommend dipping berries. Here is what you need:

berries of your choice (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries- quantity determined by you)
12 oz. of baking chocolate (I would recommend Baker's semi sweet or bittersweet choc. squares for dark chocolate)
chopsticks or 2 forks
cookie sheet lined with wax paper

* Stay away from unsweetened chocolate when you are dipping.

Now, you want to melt down your chocolate. This can be done in several ways. You can do this using a double boiler, a bowl in the microwave or a small crock pot. Today I will talk about using the small crock pot. Put the chocolate into the Crockpot with the lid on and set the Crockpot on high. After 5 minutes, stir the chocolate. Continue to stir the chocolate at 5 minute intervals until it is mostly melted. When it is mostly melted, turn the heat down to low and stir until completely melted.

When you are not stirring your chocolate, this is when you want to wash your berries. Strawberries need to be washed thoroughly to remove sand and dirt. All berries need to be washed gently and dried.

For the strawberries, hold them at the top of the berry and dip into the melted chocolate until about 3/4 of the strawberry is covered. It is beautiful to see the red and green of the berry show, so don't be tempted to dip the whole berry. (also, the chocolate is hot, so you can keep your fingers safe by not dipping all the way!) Take the strawberry and gently shake the excess chocolate off the berry and then lay it gently on the wax paper lined cookie sheet.

For the rest of the berries, gently put the berries 3 or 4 at a time into the chocolate and rotate until they are covered. If you are proficient at using chopsticks, pull the berry out with the chopstick and after the excess chocolate has dripped off, let it rest on the cookie sheet. If using chopsticks is more of a challenge for you than it's worth, use the forks.

After you have dipped all the berries that your heart desires, put the cookie sheet into the refrigerator and let the delectable berries harden. Eat within 24 hours!

Enjoy!

Yours in chocolate,

Emily
The Truffle Lady