This is peak season for strawberries coming from California. The strawberries are large and sweet right now. Two weeks ago and again last weekend I had my choice of Mexico strawberries or USA (California) strawberries for the same price at Walmart. The USA strawberries looked so much better (more red and larger) than the Mexico ones. So I went with the USA ones on both occasions.
I made a batch of just over a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries when we celebrated both my and my husband's birthdays in late April. I sent the last of the chocolate-dipped berries home with my son and daughter-in-law that evening. As they were driving away, I promised my household members that I would make more chocolate-dipped strawberries just for us.
Last Saturday I went back to Walmart and found the same great USA strawberries. So Sunday afternoon I made a smaller batch (just 8) of the treat for my husband, daughters and myself.
I particularly love very dark chocolate. Semi-sweet chocolate chips are around 50% cacao, which really isn't that dark. So I mixed unsweetened baking chocolate with semi-sweet chocolate chips in a 50/50 ratio to make about a 75% cacao for dipping.
Eight large strawberries used about 3 ounces of chocolate in total, costing about $1.50 for the chocolate. I used about 2/3 of a 16-oz container of strawberries (the 8 largest berries), costing about $1.72 for the amount used. My cost for 8 large chocolate-dipped strawberries was about $3.22.
Meanwhile, our local Safeway is advertising chocolate covered strawberries, 8 to 9 count, for $14.99 for a package. Melting chocolate in the microwave then dipping berries is about as easy a dessert as someone could home-make.
I saved over $10 by putting in about 15 minutes of work.
Just sayin' in case you're looking for a quick and easy dessert for this coming Mother's Day. I know I'll be making more for Sunday's brunch with my family.
I hope you're all having a good week.
That sounds spectacular! As easy as it sounds, it seems intimidating to me. Any special tips? Happy Mother's Day!
ReplyDeleteWe aren't quite into strawberry season yet here, but chocolate on a strawberry during any season is a win.
ReplyDeleteGreat work, Lili! We always marvel at the prices charged for chocolate strawberries. Sure, some of the specialty companies have super-large, super-ripe strawberries, but I think it's a matter of preference if the proportions of those (inarguably impressive) are as tasty as a normal berry. And you got the kind of chocolate you wanted, too. Chocolate coating is really pretty straight-forward, and we've found, forgiving, overall. We don't have a microwave, so we do it in an improvised double-boiler. Isn't the big thing that if you need to thin chocolate to get the dipping consistency you want, you can add shortening or water, but not (which we've always thought was counter-intuitive) milk? I know in the past I've clumped mine all up adding the wrong thing. Hope everyone has a lovely Mothers' Day! Sara
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