Chocolate-Covered Tuxedo & Wedding Dress Strawberries

I'm not one to use streamers and tissue paper decorations to decorate for a shower, but I still wanted to do something festive for last weekend's bridal shower. One of my dessert ideas didn't pan out (cheesecake lollipops in the wedding colors were a disaster), so chocolate covered strawberry brides and grooms were it.

These were surprisingly easy to make, though next time I'll do a few things differently: I'll thin out the chocolate and candy melts with a little more shortening so the chocolate has a smoother finish (would also help with the details, like buttons & bow ties), and I'll use the smallest decorating tip I have to apply the details, rather than just a zip lock bag with a hole snipped in one corner (worked fine but not as well as I had hoped).

Another thing: I took the advice of the blogger whose tutorials I followed and bought long stemmed strawberries even though they weren't cheap. Not only will all strawberries be roughly the same size - nice for displaying them - but the long stem is a bonus when dipping the berries in the chocolate.

I think with practice I can make these look professional. (Take a look at what I tried to copy in the source link below, and you'll not only be amazed - works of art! - but see what I mean.) I have a long way to go, but I was generally pleased with how they turned out (the brides could use some work, though). They were a big hit!

Chocolate-Covered Tuxedo and Wedding Dress Strawberries

Source: MySweetandSaucy.com

Yield: 40 strawberries

2 boxes long stemmed strawberries

Bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, or chocolate bark, cut

Bag white chocolate chips, or chocolate bark, cut

Bag Wilton pink candy melts (optional)

Crisco

Wash strawberries and thoroughly dry them. When you're ready to use each kind of chocolate/candy melt, melt in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between heatings, until smooth. Add shortening until it's melted and incorporated into chocolate; add enough to make chocolate thinner than normal chocolate consistency (sorry that isn't a better description).

To make the tuxes, dip half of strawberries (from very top to bottom) into white chocolate; put on parchment-covered cookie sheet let air dry or chill in the refridgerator until hard. Remove from fridge and dip in semi-sweet chocolate to form a "v" on the white chocolate, and coat the remainder of the strawberry. When forming the "v," be sure to dip at the same angle each time you dip. Also, to get clean lines, make sure the bowl of chocolate has a smooth surface. Make sure and let the excess amount of chocolate fall off of the strawberry into the bowl so that you don’t get a big pool around the bottom once it dries. At this point you'll either have to re-melt your semi-sweet chocolate or start with a new batch. Put chocolate into a ziplock bag or piping bag with a small decorating tip. If using a bag only, cut off a small part of the tip of the bag, so that your chocolate doesn’t flow out too easily and then pipe three small dots up the strawberry and pipe two sideways triangles to form a bow tie. Let dry.

To make the wedding dresses, dip the entire strawberry in white chocolate. Put on parchment-covered cooking sheet and let air dry or chill in the refridgerator until hard. Put melted white chocolate or pink candy melts into a ziplock bag or piping bag witha small decorating tip. If using a bag only, cut off a small part of the tip fo the bag, so that your chocolate doesn't flow too easily. Pipe 5 dots along the top of the "dress" to act as a pearl necklace. To make the dress effect you need to pipe lines of white chocolate at an angle on one side of the strawberry and then the other. Let dry.