Valentines: Chocolate Covered Strawberries.

Today is Valentines Day. I hate buying stuff for Valentines day. "Look, the store sells chocolate!" I'd rather make something. That's not to say that I always do, but it's what I'd like to do, and today I'd doing it. I'm taking the wonderful chocolaty shell from buckeyes and instead of applying it to the outside of delicious peanut butter and sugar balls, I'm going to do it to strawberries.

Finished product. A tray full of love.

If you're a dad, and you're at home, you still have time to do this. I'm posting this up early Valentines morning and even I haven't made them yet. I can't make them ahead because of the surprise factor. Well, I probably could, but the small children who can't keep their yaps shut couldn't handle it. So I'm making them this afternoon during nap time, just hours before my wife gets home so that I can reduce the opportunities for anyone to squeal. Of course, my kids will be all excited that I made them  chocolate covered strawberries and my wife will be lucky to get a few before they're all gone. I might still need to hide a few. A surprise within a surprise. I'll post a picture after it all happens, but I thought I'd get this published early in the morning to give all of you an opportunity to run to the store and grab some strawberries and chocolate and get it done before your wife gets home.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries
1 pound strawberries
6 ounces chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, whatever you like)
2 tbs shortening
Wash the strawberries and gently dry them. You might want to set them on a cookie sheet in the fridge to dry for a while before you drip them. Water in melted chocolate is bad. Heat the shortening and chips in a double boiler or a glass bowl floating in a pan of hot water. Stir until smooth. Grab the strawberries by their leaves and dip them. Roll them around a bit to get them covered. This isn't exactly brain surgery. Place them on a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet and then put all of them back in the fridge to cool and harden. Serve and enjoy.

I'll edit this post later to post a picture and let you know if my wife liked them. Really though, except for the people who are allergic to strawberries, who doesn't like chocolate covered strawberries? This is a slam dunk. Good luck!

Edit: These were so easy to make. I used dark chocolate because that's what my wife likes. They look so cool. If you make these and have any chocolate left over, animal crackers are a pretty fantastic way to clean out the bowl. It's good to be the daddy. Happy Valentines Day!