Candy Coated Valentine’s Day Strawberries

Save money this Valentine’s Day season and make your own Candy Coated Valentine’s Day Strawberries. These berries are easy to make and can be packaged up nicely for gifting.

Valentine’s Day Strawberries are one of the easiest and least expensive gift idea for February 14th. You could literally make a pints worth of chocolate covered strawberries for under $5 easily.

The funny thing is, so many companies charge an arm and a leg for 6-12 covered berries. I use to be that sucker that would pay anywhere from $20-$40, but not any longer! After learning to make these quick and easy treats years ago, I have always resorted to gifting a nicely presented box of chocolate covered berries to loved ones.

The best part? They are always such a hit, and I spend no more than 15 minutes in the kitchen! I think the hardest part of making chocolate covered strawberries is that you need to carefully wash and dry each berry. A wet berry and melted chocolate so not mix at all. In fact, just a drop of water will quickly seize your chocolate and you will have to start all over again so always make sure those berries are dry!

I always try to keep the hell and stem leaves in tact because they just look prettier attached. Sine it is not naturally berry season in my neck of New England, I buy berries from California at the market. They are not always fully ripe, but I look for the ones that are the largest and firm. These are much easier to dip than itty bitty ones.

For chocolate, I use white chocolate candy melts. You can often find these at craft stores for about $2 per bag. You can use semi-sweet baking morsels too but I prefer to work with candy melts.

Toppings are probably the most fun part of decorating Valentine’s Day Strawberries. You can use nuts, different colored chocolate swizzle, sprinkles, or Valentine’s Day sprinkles. Since I am a blogger, I always have tons of sprinkles and candies in my pantry. If you need some, the Dollar Spot at Target is a great place to find some for a buck.

I found that even though not every berry was super ripe, the chocolate coating helped to sweeten things up a bit which was great.

For 8 jumbo Strawberries I used about 1/2 cup of candy melts. I got them to the creamy consistency by microwaving them in two 25 second intervals, stirring in between. Working with candy melts is a blessing and a curse because unlike real chocolate it dries very quickly so you have to add sprinkles to each berry after dipping.

It is however much easier to work with for dipping because it is so creamy when warm,

To gift these, place them in a red, or pink pastry box, or pretty much any box with a lid. You can find these at your local Dollar Store. Adding some colorful basket filler can also make them extra pretty. Just keep in mind these berries do leak if they are not eaten right away so make them right before gifting, and allow them to set.