Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Berry (Chocolate covered strawberry treats!)

(Okay, first of all, my last name is not Berry and no, I did not recently get married - if thats what the title made you think :D, just read ahead you will know... ) 

It has been raining very heavily recently. Last week I had a day off from work and I was hoping to spend it doing some outdoorish stuff that was pending for a while but instead the day turned out to be a rainy and windy day. So rather than being outdoors I was stuck on my bed reading a book (Drunkard's walk of randomness -- highly recommended read by the way). After a while I got tired of listening to the sound of rain splashing on my windows and the sight of a perpetual gray sky. My mind was not focused either (have you noticed how rain wanders your mind off sometimes?) so I decided to take a break from reading and got into the kitchen looking to spend a few hours making something delicious. I saw some really fresh strawberries and two chocolate bars (a white and a dark) in my refrigerator and an idea sprang to my mind to create some artsy things with chocolate dipped strawberry and I was suddenly all excited! After a bit of googling I knew what I wanted to make... this is the 'fruit' of my labor of a rainy afternoon! Hope you enjoy it too...

So for the very first time, here are Mr. and Mrs. Berry! Don't they just look like a very cute couple who has just taken their vows :D

(Follow the read more link below for the rest of the post...)

And some more ones.. these are dark chocolate covered berries with whites drizzled on top...

I followed instructions from here for Mr. and Mrs. Berry and then made the next ones out of whatever struck my fancy but really there is no strict set of rules here. Let your creativity run wild and see what designs amaze you for the day :)

Source: here

Here are some general rules that I followed.

1. Pick good strawberries. Mine were not very sweet but they were perfect for this project. The berries should be fresh and modestly well-shaped. I guess shape is more of a personal preference but definitely look for ones with green leaves and stems still attached, if possible.
2. Clean the berries and dry them really well before using. Trust me chocolate covering wet berries is not fun!
3. Insert toothpicks into the stem end of the berries and keep them ready.
4. Melt/temper the white chocolate first. I used the microwave method. There is a good article here describing various tempering methods.
5. Hold the green leaves of a strawberry in your hand and carefully dip the berry in melted white chocolate letting it coat thoroughly.
6. Remove from chocolate and twist a bit making sure excess chocolate drains off well.
7. Allow the strawberries to dry on a parchment paper lined plate. Parchment paper will make your life much easier as the berries will not stick so removing them when dried will be super easy.
8. When all the berries have been dipped; keep the plate in refrigerator for an hour or so until the chocolate has thickened and set.
9. Now melt the dark chocolate. Remove the berries from fridge.
10. If you want to make the Mr. and Mrs. Berry, follow the step by step instructions here. I made small cornets for delicate bride dress decoration using steps here.
11. Otherwise using a toothpick just drizzle some dark chocolate over white chocolate dipped berries or some white chocolate over some dark chocolate drizzled berries for some artsy designs.

Relax now, grab a cup of coffee, take some pictures and then sit with your sweetie enjoying these chocolaty treats! 

Afterall, love is in the air they say... :)