Sweetheart Treats Recipe Swap-Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Image from hotchocolate.net

This is for LifeAsMom’s Sweetheart Treats Recipe Swap. Take a look at this link and see what sweet treats her readers are swapping this Valentine's day.

My mother-in-law’s birthday is Valentine’s Day. I like to make cakes for loved ones on birthdays. MIL isn’t the biggest sweets eater in the world, but she does love a good chocolate dipped strawberry, so that’s always been her birthday cake from me. Now the boos are here, this tradition is extra fun and delicious.

The great things about chocolate dipped strawberries according to this health conscious foodie mama who likes to share the kitchen with the kids are:

• Chocolate dipped fruit has two ingredients, and doesn’t require precise measuring. Chocolate and clean, dry fruit. That means even toddlers can help.


• All the ingredients are healthy. You heard me right. Chocolate too! The darker it is the more antioxidants it has. Cocoa has more phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity than any other food including tea, wine and blueberries! Eight strawberries have more vitamin C than an orange and are high in fiber. Strawberries are second only to plums in cancer and heart disease fighting flavonoids.


• There is absolutely no reason to buy fruit already dipped. They are easy to make, and pre-dipped fruit is quite pricey. Strawberries are often on special around Valentine’s Day. Buy a pint of the largest strawberries you can find (they don’t have to be the pricey clamshells), and a package of quality chocolate chips. If budget allows you can buy fancy bars, but a name brand bag of semi-sweet chips will do the trick.


• most kids go for chocolate so you shouldn’t have much problem winning kids over on a sweet treat they helped make that’s good for them to boot!

Quality of chocolate matters- According to Dave Grotto in 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life, the more processed the chocolate is the less flavonols it will have. Look for chocolate labels that boast its nutrient content. Stay tuned, I’m almost done reading the book, the giveaway will be happening soon. Also, darker chocolate has less sugar than milk chocolate. White chocolate contains none of the health benefits of "brown" chocolates containing cocoa.

Kid Appeal Tip Chocolate has caffeine in it. An eight ounce serving of cocoa has no more than 10mg of caffeine (coffee, tea and cola have 20-120mg). So while you don’t want tots to gorge on chocolate close to nap or bed time, a reasonable amount of chocolate for kids is OK.

Preparation
Rinse the berries and pat them dry. They must be completely dry before you dip. Leave stems on. If any are bruised, cut bruises off and eat right away. Don’t dip cut berries. Line a baking sheet with wax paper or foil.

Heat a couple inches of water in a large sauce-pan and turn to high heat. Put a small sauce pan or stainless steel bowl over the water to create a double boiler. As soon as you get bubbles in the water turn heat down to medium. You want to avoid a roiling boil which will make it hard for you to control the bowl. Add the chips to the bowl and stir occasionally until chips are melted. You can add a dribble of oil to the chocolate if you want strawberries to appear shiny vs. matte finish. Do not get any water in the chocolate and do not over heat, as it will change the consistency of the chocolate. Take bowl off water when almost all the chips have melted, continue stirring until smooth. You can put it back on the water if the chocolate cools you need to smooth it out again.

Hold berries by the stem and coat with chocolate on all sides. Lay the berries down on the baking sheet. If you have left over chocolate pull out nuts, graham crackers, pretzels or dried fruit and use up the rest of the chocolate. If you’re feeling ambitious, melt some white chocolate and drizzle white stripes over the dipped items. Put the cookie sheet in the fridge to set the chocolate. The berries will last in an airtight container for a few days in the fridge.

Are you surprised? Did you know chocolate was a super antioxidant food that could be included in your child's diet?