Valentine’s Day is a time for chocolate ALL. THE. TIME. Why shell out for chocolate treats that may not make it out of the gold-covered box? Spend a little time with easy, pre-made ingredients to make pretty and delicious chocolate treats for your sweet!
I used to hate Valentine’s Day. Back in the day, I rarely wound up hitting February 14th when I dating someone. I regularly wore all black and flaunted my faux-hatred for the day that splashed in my face the message that “Sorry, Chickie! No date for you!” Well, I got over it when I realized that Valentine’s Day meant falling in love with ME. Profound, no?
Then my husband showed up in my life and of course my perspective changed and shifted to embrace the “holiday”. I’ve always been a sucker for a good greeting card (my husband says I have a knack for always finding the “perfect” card), so I had that covered. All of a sudden the pattern was reset each year. Card, chocolate, nice dinner, wine. And of course my main squeeze.
Everyone’s idea of a “perfect” Valentine’s Day is different. While I love a good meal out in a nice restaurant, I also really love staying in and cooking with my husband. But according to the marketing masters out there who tell us how to celebrate this particular day, the one thing that most people seem to be on board with is the inclusion of CHOCOLATE in any way possible. Well, I’m here to tell you that while I’m not normally a big “have to have chocolate” gal, I acquiesce and splurge each year with a few chocolate treats.
With so many chocolate-themed gifts and bites to choose from out there, I have become a believer that I can satisfy my desire for sweet treats myself, making my own chocolate-covered gems. I mean, once you start dipping things in chocolate, it’s hard to stop. I started with strawberries (a classic, no?), but then found myself dipping mandarin oranges, pretzel sticks, vanilla wafers, and hazelnut creme-filled cookies, and even bacon. I was hooked.
And the great thing about the easy-to-use hard shell chocolate you can buy at the store is that it is so darned simple that a child can do it. Which would be super fun. And messy. But so worth it.
After all, if we’re all going to embrace the chocolate-dipped world of Valentine’s Day, why not have some fun with it, right? Embrace, dip, nibble, and enjoy.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 20 people | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 20 minutes |
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No matter what you dip in this chocolate, you can coat it with whatever sweet (or savory!) elements you may have in your baking stash. Cookie sprinkles are perfect for this purpose, and provide visual variety for each and every bite.
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- 1 quart strawberries, washed and dried
- 1 cup vanila wafers
- 1 cup hazelnut filled waffle cookies
- 2 containers microwave-ready chocolate shell
- variety of cookie sprinkles & sugars
- Clean the strawberries and make sure that they are dried before dipping. Pick your flavored or colored dipping sugars, semi-sweet chocolate nibs, or other decorations.
- Heat the chocolate per package instructions. Seriously, follow the instructions to heat it low and slow--you don't want burned or curdled chocolate (not that I know anything about that...).
- Dip each strawberry or cookie into chocolate. Let excess drip off; dip into your choice of colored sugars.
- Set on a parchment paper-lined rack and allow the shell to harden completely.
- Serve up to your sweetie, or give as a gift. Sweet treats for everyone!
I wasn't kidding when I said that I got carried away and started dipping everything in chocolate. I had these super cute, super sweet mandarin oranges that were just screaming for me to dip them in chocolate. Who was I to argue with those little gems? So I grabbed my trusty orange peeler, got rid of as much of the white pith on each slice, and got dipping. The citrus burst surrounded by the sweet chocolate was an unexpected success. Yeah, I have a problem now.
What a great idea! I could eat just about anything dipped in chocolate!
I would devour all of these! They look so delicious!
We always stay in and cook on Valentine’s Day too! I love anything chocolate dipped, this all looks so wonderful!
Yum, we’d enjoy these any day! I’ve never seen that chocolate shell before – quite awesome!
my daughter has been asking to make chocolate covered treats for valentines day, I usually just do strawberries, but those mandarins sound delicous
Love the name of your blog and yes, it is a chocolate dipped world! Happy Valentine’s Day!