Chocolate Covered Strawberries with Tempered Chocolate

Have you ever noticed how smooth and shiny the chocolates in a store are? I've always enjoyed hand dipping things in chocolate but mine never turned out smooth and shiny. They were always dull with streaks in them. Well, after doing some research on line I figured out it's because I didn't temper my chocolate before dipping things in it. Tempering your chocolate is what gives it the glossy shine.

With Valentines Day being tomorrow I decided I would make chocolate covered strawberries for my hubby. So this morning I tried tempering my chocolate for the first time. And it actually worked! I think the strawberries turned out fabulous! So I decided to post it here for you all to try!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

You'll need:

1 lb. of good quality chocolate. (I used dark chocolate, but you can use any kind.)

a double boiler or a heat proof bowl that fits on the top of a pot.

a thermometer (instant read thermometers are best but I just used a regular one)

a rubber spatula

strawberries or anything else you wish to dip in the chocolate

1. Put 1-2 inches in you pot and bring just barely to a simmer. You don't want the water to touch your bowl and you don't want the water to boil.

2. Chop your chocolate and put 3/4 of it into your heat proof bowl. Reserve the other for a later step.

3. Once the water is simmering set your bowl of chocolate into the pot with the thermometer in it. You will need to stir CONSTANTLY until the chocolate is melted and the thermometer reads 118-120 for dark chocolate, or 116-118 for white and milk chocolate.

4. Once your chocolate reaches the right temp remove the bowl and stir constantly until the chocolate cools down to 80 degrees. As soon as it reaches 80 out it back over the simmering water until it reaches 88-91 degrees for dark chocolate or 85-87 degrees for white and milk chocolate. After it reaches this target temp your chocolate is tempered.

5. To make sure your chocolate has properly tempered spread a little bit of chocolate thinly onto a piece of tin foil and stick in the refrigerator for 3 minutes. If your chocolate is shiny and smooth it's done correctly. If not, just start all over and bring your chocolate back to 118 and follow the steps again.

6. Then dip your fruit in the chocolate letting the excess drip off.

I had extra chocolate so I covered some pretzels and added dried cranberries and I also covered cashews and peanuts with the chocolate.

I cut this heart out of the test chocolate. I think next time I might spread a lot more out to cool and then cut out fun shapes for dressing up desserts or for adding to cakes.