Chocolate Strawberries

This afternoon I made some chocolate covered strawberries. I have dipped berries in chocolate before but I will admit, I have never actually tempered the chocolate. I figured it was time to do it right so I tempered it, since I don’t have a nice big marble slab I chose to use the “seeding” method. It is really very simple, you chop some chocolate (about 1 lb.)…

…bring it up to about 110*F in a double boiler mixing constantly at this point all the chunks should have melted. Let it cool to about 100*F and then add some more chocolate (about 4 oz.) which will bring the temperature down further still. When the chocolate reaches the desired temperature, in this case about 90*F  remove the solid chocolate.

Since I was using the chocolate for dipping, I placed the bowl of tempered chocolate in a bath of water that was a few degrees warmer in order to keep the chocolate liquid for dipping.

I dipped clean and DRY strawberries in the melted chocolate and set them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. When I had finished, I  put the tray of berries in the fridge to set up.

Tempering the chocolate resulted in a smoother finish and a crisper break when you bite through the chocolate. It only took a little more time but I think it is definitely worth it.

Read Full Post »

Morels

This morning, while taking a walk, I stumbled upon a morel–the first of the season. I plucked it from the side of the trail and took it home. It was pretty small, about 2 inches high but since it was an early one, it doesn’t matter since I know there are more to come.  I sliced it in half and fried it in a little butter and ate it with hot toast (my sister made me a bunch of bread this weekend) and some black pepper.

Such a perfect snack for this cold and hazy afternoon.

Read Full Post »