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Chocolate-covered Strawberries and Marshmallows

Who wouldn’t want to sit on the beach and munch on chocolate-covered strawberries and marshmallows all while sipping a glass of champagne in the Bahamas? No one. However, if the weather’s not exactly warm (say, you’re Canadian), and you’re not near a beach (which is probably true if you’re reading this), all that you have left is delicious juicy berries in rich chocolate. You know what? I’ll settle. Gladly.

Strawberries and marshmallows covered in chocolate

Chocolate-covered strawberries are one of my favourite desserts, when made correctly. The key to making them correctly is tempered chocolate, and that the strawberries are completely dry. There is no way around this! Chocolate-covered strawberries can be found in almost all buffets and range from good to bad, but you’re about to learn how to do it right.

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Tutorial: Tempering Chocolate

At one time or another you might have melted chocolate, but this is different. Very different. There are three types of melted chocolate: tempered (which has a shiny appearance and makes a snapping noise when you bite into it), non-tempered (this is just regular, melted, non-shiny chocolate), and seized (this shouldn’t happen!). When you bite into a good chocolate bar you should hear a snap. This is because the fat molecules in the chocolate are all lined up in rows and so when you bite into the chocolate you break the bonds that the fat molecules have to each other and you get a snapping noise. If this doesn’t happen then the chocolate bar was tempered incorrectly. But how do you actually temper the chocolate? You’re about to find out.

Dipping a strawberry into tempered chocolate

To temper your chocolate chop it up and place 2/3 of it in a bowl. Heat up a pot of water (with less than an inch of water) on the stove and place the bowl on top of it so that the pot holds it up.

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