Happy Thoughts : ): Chocolate Meltdown

During the week, the bf stole a chocolate covered apple from his friend's "Edible Arrangements" to the friend's girlfriend. Obviously, his action didn't bother him in the least bit. He told me how he thoroughly enjoyed the apple and even talked me into making our own chocolate covered fruits this weekend.

The chocolate we used was dark GuyLian Belgian chocolate that contained 60% cocoa. We were shooting for that bitter flavor in chocolate to contrast with the sweet taste of strawberries. When I was cutting them down into small pieces, I could already smell the rich and flavorful aroma. I was caught eating them several times.

The strawberries were washed, dried, and waiting to be dressed.

Melting chocolate was tricky. We first were going to melt it in a saucer pot on the stove, and maybe add a little water. After a little googling, we realized it was a terrible idea. Absolute no moisture could be added to the chocolate during the melting. Otherwise, the result can be disastrous. We found two methods: using a double layer steamer or an oven. We used the steamer. The chocolate melted pretty fast. We kept the fire low during the coating so the sauce stayed soft and absolutely smooth.

The strawberries were eventually covered completely from head to toe with chocolate. Don't they look cute? We weren't all done with them in this picture. We then put them in the fridge to make the chocolate dry faster.

After finishing the strawberries, we still had left over chocolate sauces. We sliced up some Fuji apples and covered them with the remaining chocolate sauce. Putting them on a stick and into a beer mug, we then had our own "edible arrangements". :D

Adding chocolate coating to sliced apples

Chocolate covered apples on a stick

The bowl was still covered with a thick layer of rich chocolate. We had a bag of sliced almonds so we mixed them into the bowl with the remaining chocolate sauce. This accidentally turned out to be a very tasty treat, my favorite of all.