Happy Love Day Everyone! I am so excited to share this deceptively easy classic Valentine’s Day dessert with you all. Chocolate-covered strawberries are a wonderful after-dinner dessert. This is especially true if you’ve had quite the indulgent entree for dinner. Using the Instant Pot to melt the chocolate is a really unique and easy way to simply melt chocolate if you don’t have a microwave.
The Ingredients
Chocolate-covered strawberries can be as simple as dipping washed and dried strawberries in melted chocolate but feel free to experiment with different types of sprinkles or other garnishes such as white chocolate chips, dried rose petals, etc. I used regular semi-sweet chocolate chips for mine. I find it has the perfect balance between sweet and bitter but use dark or milk chocolate if you’d like!
water
strawberries
chocolate chips
sprinkles
Simmering Using the Instant Pot
When I discovered this technique I loved it! This process is called a Bain-Marie or double boiler. in this case, we’re using the gentle heat of the instant pot to simmer water. You need to make sure you have a heat-safe glass or pyrex bowl that sits on top of the edge of the Instant Pot without touching the water. Since my Instant Pot is the 8 qt I used a 9″ deep-dish pie plate and it worked great! Add the water, bring the water up to a gentle simmer and gently place the bowl or plate on top.
Melt the Chocolate
I like to turn off the saute function at this point. The residual heat should be enough to melt all of your chocolate chips. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the glass bowl and give it a couple of minutes. As it starts to melt, gently stir it using a spatula. Make sure your strawberries are washed and well dried and that you have a tray with parchment paper nearby to place the strawberries down.
Dip the Strawberries
Dip the strawberries one at a time by rolling them in the fully melted chocolate. Place them down on the parchment one at a time and garnish each one as soon as they’re down. Repeat with the remaining strawberries (maybe sneak a bite of one carefully as the chocolate is hot). I like to leave them for about an hour at room temperature before serving them. If you’re going to eat them that night, leave them out of the fridge.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
gluten & dairy free
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 5 mins
Hardening Time: 1 hr
Course: Dessert
Servings: 10 Strawberries
Equipment
Instant Pot
glass or stainless steel bowl that can fit over top of the Instant Pot without the base touching the water inside the pot
tray lined with a silicone or parchment paper sheet
skewers optional
10 mini muffin liners
Ingredients
2 cups water
10 large strawberries washed and dried
1 cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp sprinkles optional for garnish
Instructions
Place water in the bottom of your Instant Pot. Put the saute setting on high and bring the water to a light simmer.
Place the bowl on top, ensuring it can sit on the edges of the Instant Pot without falling in or the bottom of the bowl touching the water.
Add chocolate chips to the bowl and cancel saute setting.
Stir chocolate chips around the bowl carefully until they're melted and runny.
Carefully dip one strawberry in the melted chocolate at a time, holing the strawberry by the leaves or by skewering the strawberry from the top half way through and holding the strawberry by the skewer.
Drip the excess chocolate off of the strawberry and place on the lined tray. Sprinkle immediately with sprinkles of choice.
Repeat with remaining strawberries.
Allow to air dry at room temperature for 4 hours. Serve or refrigerate. Remove from fridge 15 minutes before eating.
To store, store in mini muffin papers.
