Homemade Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Bouquet

When Valentine’s Day rolls around, the general thought process that takes us all over goes something like this: “if he/she/they didn’t spend tons of money on me, they don’t really love me.” Hopefully though, most of us know that isn’t the case and in fact; I would much rather have a thoughtful and personalized homemade Valentine’s Day gift that they made themselves and gave from their heart than a gift that cost several months of rent. Valentine’s Day gifts don’t have to be expensive at all to show how much you care. This chocolate dipped strawberry bouquet is a simple DIY Valentine’s Day gift idea that doesn’t cost much, looks great and is sure to make your Sweetheart smile!

The great thing about this strawberry bouquet a is that it really holds up anytime of the year. Yes, it’s perfect for a DIY Valentine’s Day gift, but it also would work for birthdays, anniversaries or as a cute wedding centerpiece. Want to do something special for your partner in the middle of July? It comes together in just a few minutes and I can say from experience that it makes for a quite nice surprise.

Homemade Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Bouquet

When you’re making this, you can easily customize it any way that you want to. If you want to do milk chocolate? Use milk chocolate. White chocolate and dark work well too. You could even add a couple drops of essential to your chocolate to create a really custom taste. Peppermint essential oil or sweet orange essential oil would both mix very well with the chocolate to create an amazing taste! There are so many different combinations that you could create and all of them would really make your gift personalized and custom to the person you’re gifting.

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You don’t have to stick with just strawberries either. You could easily add some pineapple or other tasty fruits to create a colorful bouquet. If you are using strawberries though, be sure that when you choose your strawberries that you pick plump and red ones. They will have the best taste and won’t be sour when your loved one bites into them. No one wants a super sour Valentine’s Day gift after all. You’ll also want to make sure that you wash and dry them very well before you start to remove any dirt or pesticides that may be on them.  When you’re finished, you don’t have to put your strawberry bouquet into a coffee mug, but I love the idea of giving them something to enjoy once the strawberries are long gone.

You will need:

• 1 quart of fresh strawberries, washed and dried thoroughly
• 8 oz. Milk chocolate for melting
• 2 oz. White Chocolate
• paraffin wax or shortening (optional)
• Bamboo skewers
• coffee mug
• floral foam
• shredded tissue paper

To start, wash and dry your strawberries very well. Let them sit in the sink in a colander to drain for a few minutes. After they’ve drained for a bit, dry each individual strawberry with a paper towel to make absolutely certain that you’ve removed any water from them. Even a single drop can cause the chocolate to coat wrong so yes, this is a very important step. Remove the strawberry stem and leaves if you want. I tend to leave them so that they have a bit of a color pop to them.

Run the wooden skewer through each strawberry. You’ll need to place the skewer right next to each stem to get it to go all the way through without any issues.

Once all of your strawberries are skewered, melt the milk chocolate in a separate bowl in the microwave on 30 second bursts. Be sure that you give it a good stir in between each heating session. If you want your chocolate to harden a bit, add a tiny bit of paraffin wax or shortening to the chocolate as it is melting and stir well to mix. It will harden your chocolate up as it cools more so than leaving it just plain.

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Dip each strawberry into your melted chocolate giving it the amount of cover that you would like. You can cover the entire strawberry, partially cover or do it however you’d like. Lay them each on wax paper until the chocolate is cool and hardened. Make sure you use wax paper and not parchment paper. The chocolate will need the coating on the wax paper to avoid sticking to it. I prefer to use THIS wax paper since it is unbleached and chlorine free. After they have dried, melt the white chocolate and drizzle across your strawberries if you would like then allow time for it to cool and set fully.

As you’re waiting for the chocolate to harden, cut a piece of gardening foam to fit inside of your coffee cup. Make sure that it fits about half way up the inside of the cup so that it holds the skewers well. Fill the cup with the shredded tissue paper to cover the foam and once your chocolate is fully hardened, stick your skewers down inside of the foam. Create your strawberry bouquet and use jute or twine to attach a special card.

Voila! You’re done! See? Told you it was quick and easy! Stand back, pat yourself on the back and admire your strawberry bouquet!