Ripe, sweet, in season strawberries are dipped into darkest dark chocolate. Left in lonely solitude, the chocolate hardens into a shell around the strawberry. A bite takes you through the bitter chocolate to the sweet strawberry for a heavenly match.
Lest you think that having fruit for dessert always has to be a non-decadent treat, I thought I would feature this fruit based dessert first. Strawberries are in season where I live right now, in all of their beautiful red glory, and it’s time to enjoy them in as many ways as we can! If you get tired (if that’s possible) of eating them plain, with cream, or in smoothies, this is another wonderful way to enjoy them.
Read below for recipe and cost analysis!
We always think of dark chocolate strawberries for Valentine’s Day, but that’s really out of season! Now is the time to enjoy them.
This is also a fun start to my $5 Dollar Dish feature. I really hated to put that in the title because knowing that it was frugal to make, made it seem less decadent somehow! But it was nice on my budget that this was not expensive to make (at least it’s not this time of year with strawberries in season and cheaper!).
Cost Analysis
Local Strawberries-1.50 (with coupon)
4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate-1.50 (Trader Jo’s brand)
1 teaspoon fair trade vanilla extract-.50
raw honey .11 cents per tablespoon
1/2 tablespoon coconut oil, .7 cents
Total Cost: $3.68
Pretty good, huh? To make the chocolate go even further, just dip one side of the strawberry in, and then you can do two pints worth of strawberries! I made a few of mine that way, to try it out, and they were great that way too.
Dark Chocolate Strawberries
My daughter and I love unsweetened chocolate and will eat it straight, so I didn’t feel the need to over sweeten ours and only used a 1/2 tablespoon of honey. But my long suffering husband said it could have used just a wee bit more. 2 tablespoons would still make a very dark chocolate, but be a bit sweeter. I also find that some brands of chocolate are more bitter and therefore need a bit more sweetener.
1 pint of strawberries
4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
1-4 tablespoons raw honey (see note above)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon high quality coconut oil
Dash of sea salt1-Gently wash and dry strawberries. Set aside.
2-Chop chocolate up into small chunks. Place a few inches of water into the bottom of a double boiler and bring to a low simmer. (if you don’t have one, like me, then create your own by using a pot with a heat proof bowl that rests on top of it. The bowl should never touch the water).
3-Place the chopped chocolate and the rest of the ingredients in the top part of the double boiler (or in my case, my heat proof bowl). Using a heat proof spatula or spoon, stir everything together just a bit, and then place over the simmering water. Continue to stir while everything melts, and take off when there are just a few pieces of chocolate left to melt. Make sure you don’t burn the chocolate!
4-Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take your washed and dried strawberries, and holding their stems, dip into the chocolate. Tips: If the chocolate rolls off the strawberries too quickly, let it cool and thicken a few minutes. If it starts to get too thick to dip, then place over simmering water to melt again. Place the dipped strawberry onto the baking sheet and continue the process until all of the strawberries are dipped. Leave at room temperature in a cool house or place in the refrigerator to solidify for a few hours and enjoy! Eat within 24 hours or less.
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Totally decadent, but nutritious. What more could you ask for? Looks fabulous!
I am also very excited to check out the unsweetened chocolate from TJ’s. Is it organic? I love Dagoba Chocodrops for melting and baking but they do contain a small amount of cane sugar (which I am fine with but many people are not) so this would be a good alternative.
Thanks, Ali 🙂
I have three pounds of frozen Oregon strawberries that I picked from my mother-in-law’s house a few weeks ago. Will they be mushy when thawed? I hate to spend the money to go out and find fresh strawberries when I have three pounds at home! Any suggestions??
Chocolate covered strawberries are my favorite!! I make them every year on my birthday!
Ali,
Unfortunately Trader Jo’s brand is not organic. I wish it were! It does have a great taste though. 🙂
Hi Anna,
Defrosted strawberries wouldn’t work too well here. Maybe you can make up a new recipe using strawberries and chocolate? A chocolate strawberry milkshake sounds good to me (and frozen fruit makes wonderful smoothies).
KP,
I *ahem* do the same when I have them on hand! I find them the perfect little pick up in the afternoon. 🙂
I made these this past weekend as a little birthday treat for myself. I couldn’t stop eating them. Every time I went through the kitchen, I stole one from the fridge. I think this is one of my most favorite as well as easiest desserts ever.
yum! i have only tried TJ’s milk chocolate and loved it, but lately i’ve been using Guittard Fair Trade dark chocolate chips for baking/desserts. Strawberries are in season, finally, here in the Midwest, I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Chocolate-dipped strawberries hold a special place in my heart ever since we dipped a gazillion of them for our wedding! I did a batch for our anniversary last year, too. 🙂
your pictures say it all! thank you for the sweet and frugal recipe Kimi
i LOOOOVE strawberries! Especially with cream, yum 🙂
Just gorgeous photos. Elena clearly shows how much she loves them. 🙂 I think I am going to like these $5 dishes of yours, Kimi!
Shirley
Mmm, I am going to buy strawberries tomorrow, and already have all of the other ingredients. Sweet!
They are fun to put on a bamboo skewer for the kids or the dessert table.
YUM! I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries. What a great reminder!
That baby’s face is priceless! Strawberries are done here now, but there’s next year!
Hi Kimberly,
I love this blog and your commitment to nourishing food!!! I would LOVE to send you some Teeccino herbal coffee to try and maybe blog about.
Teeccino is a healthy alternative to coffee – made from figs, dates, nuts, carob and different, natural flavors.
It comes in ten flavors in all, including Hazelnut, Vanilla, Mochal, Caffe and Chocolate and is brewed exactly like coffee – without the coffee or the caffeine.
It is really yummy and can be used in recipes in place of coffee!
If you are interested and would like to try, please email me: elizabeth@teeccino.com. Please visit our website: http://www.teeccino.com.
Thanks so much and keep up the excellent work!
These look so awesome! I don’t know if we have local strawberries available any more or not. 🙁 What I love is that these would be good almost unsweetened. Thanks for that inspiration!
Would you be able to use stevia instead of honey?
These strawberries look delicious.
I love unsweetened chocolate. Can’t wait to try this recipe.
It looks like Elena’s enjoyed them!
These are cooling in the fridge as I type! I only used 1/2 T. of honey and expected it to need more; on it own, it was probably too dark for my tastes, but paired with the sweet strawberries, it was absolutely perfect! Awesome recipe and I feel good about eating these since it only contains healthy, wholesome ingredients.
We don’t have a Trader Joe’s in the Black Hills (closet is Minneapolis!) but I am going to get unsweetened chocolate and make these this weekend. Believe it or not, I still have strawberries (they are tiny mountain strawberries) in my backyard garden.
BTW I use coconut oil in so many ways. It’s so versatile! Thanks for idea 🙂
Yummy! My husband and I have been craving something sweet, and these hit the spot! Guilt free too 🙂