Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, which means you need some sweet treats to celebrate with your loved ones!  One of my favorites for the holiday is chocolate dipped strawberries.  Light but decadent and a rare enough to feel special…well at least we don’t eat them very often, not sure how much chocolate dipped strawberry eating goes on in your house!

Now, there are plenty of fancy and sophisticated recipes for chocolate dipped strawberries, but this is my DIY version.  Easy enough to make on short notice with ingredients we often have in the house.  Okay, so maybe not everyone tends to have a stash of chocolate chips on hand at all times, but we do for some reason.  He he!

First things first…head to your local Farmer’s Market or store and pick up the biggest, juciest strawberries you can find.  I know they’re not in season everywhere this time of year, but some times you just have to make an exception to the local/seasonal only rule!

Melt some semi-sweet or milk chocolate over a double boiler (glass bowl or pot with the chocolate in it nested on top of a pot of boiling water) stirring until it’s smooth and creamy.  I use almost a full bag of chocolate chips or two full bars of chocolate…and we prefer semi-sweet.

Then, holding freshly washed and dried (the chocolate will just slide of wet berries) strawberry by the stem dip it into the chocolate and then place on wax or parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet. Once you’ve dipped all of your strawberries place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator unti the chocolate hardens…roughly an hour.

If you want to get a little fancy, melt some white chocolate the same way you melted the other chocolate and drizzle over the hardened chocolate dipped strawberries in any design you would like and then stick back in the fridge to harden again.  My favorite method for this is to either dip a fork or toothpick into the chocolate and then drizzle over the strawberries.

There you go…a perfect ending to a special Valentine’s Day Meal, especially with a glass of Champagne.  I hope you have a wonderful day filled with love and laughter!