Chocolate Covered Treats!

My mother is a huge fan of chocolate covered strawberries. She gets her fix around Valentine's Day and whenever we pass the Godiva store in the mall! Needless to say, I was planning on ordering her some delectable strawberries from edible arrangements for Mothers Day. That was, until, I stumbled across these gigantic strawberries at the grocery store. I had two bags of chocolate morsels left over from the Christmas (cookie) season, I had quite a few cake pop sticks left from Sharina's birthday and decorative raffia and paper just begging to be used. After consulting with my sister, we decided to give it go!

I set out to find the perfect strawberry receptacle. My first thought was a cute bucket or watering can, but no luck. I eventually found the cutest mason jar tea light holders, complete with wire handle. All I needed was some styrofoam and shredded paper, done and done.

I bought one dozen ginormous strawberries and a big box of smaller strawberries, this way I could alternate the sizes and the bouquets would balance. Dipping the berries was so much easier than I thought. Once the chocolate was melted it was smooth sailing. I dipped and Sharina decorated. We let the chocolate harden and then began assembly.

The red jars and green raffia remind me of a strawberry! (I was tempted to draw tiny seeds all over the jars!)

Ingredients

• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 2 cups milk chocolate chips

• 11/2 tbsp coconut oil

• 1 cup white chocolate chips

• 12 large strawberries

• 28 small strawberries

Instructions

1. Wash strawberries thoroughly and let dry. Keep at room temperature.

2. Melt chocolate chips and coconut oil in a double boiler over low heat until thoroughly melted.

3. Skewer the strawberries with the cake-pop sticks and dip into chocolate. Let excess chocolate drip off and lay on parchment paper or place into cake-pop stand.

4. Melt white chocolate chips in double boiler over low heat until melted, then drizzle over chocolate-covered strawberries.

5. Let the strawberries sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.

6. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until harden

Since I was making four of these gifts, I wasn't sure if I would have enough strawberries. So I bought a bag of marshmallows to dip and use as fillers just in case. Turns out I had more than enough and decided to make a bouquet for my co-workers!