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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Decadent Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Happy Spring! I am so joyful that the days will be warmer and the local farms will be dishing out fresh, juicy strawberries.

This last Saturday night we were prepping for a fun get together with some awesome friends and the biggest highlight of the prepping was dressing juicy strawberries with thick and rich melted Cacao Chocolate Chips.

Do you know what Cacao is?
Quit simply cacao is the original and real name of the well-known cocoa bean. Cacao (Theobroma Cacao) is from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter are extracted. The word “cocoa” is a derivative of “cacao”. Call it whatever you want. Just know that the purer the cacao product is the more health benefits it provides.

The bean of the cacao plant is the nutritional and flavorful source of all chocolate and cocoa products. Cacao contains a naturally rich supply of antioxidants and is a good source of dietary fiber. It is also known to be one of the highest dietary sources of magnesium, flavanols and polyphenols. Basically, it’s a SUPERFOOD!

Ever since people have been hearing that dark chocolate has major health benefits people have been giving themselves the excuse to consume dark chocolate. I would recommend you to try and make sure that it’s as raw as possible…which will ensure that you don’t consume false chocolate products with added sugars. I buy raw chocolate powder at Henrey’s whole foods supermarket and love to add it to my smoothies, beverages, sauces, spreads, desserts, and baking.

Let’s go back to my tasty strawberries…

So, instead of buying the traditional chocolate dipping products out there that actually have many additional ingredients that aren’t really good for you I decided to pick up this healthier option. These chocolate chips were easy to melt and the chocolate was rich and delicious.

I put the whole bag of chocolate chips in a stainless steal bowl, which sat in a pool of boiling water in a big saucepan. This melted the chocolate naturally, quickly, and safely leaving the chocolate smooth and ready for dipping.




This was our set up that easily allowed me and the kids to grab a clean strawberry, which I bought at Costco, dip it in chocolate and then place it on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper (for easy clean up later). Once the tray was full it was placed in our refrigerator for 2 hours to allow the chocolate to harden.



















VOILA, easy as 1, 2, 3.

We were able to dip 24 good size strawberries for the whole bag of chocolate chips. I will have to buy two bags next time…because the kids ate 20 strawberries way too quickly before the adults finished dinner. SNEAKY KIDS!

I hope this inspires you to take a little bit of time the night before your next get together to make something much healthier and delicious then a pre-made cake or pie.

Healthy cacao is a natural mode enhancer and will make people happy.

Bon Appetite!

5 comments:

  1. MMMmm.. YUMMY! Thank you for 'revamping' this yummy tasty treat. I normally use bittersweet chocolate chip morsels, but NOW I have been educated to use cacao. Iva, what you are doing for moms is amazing. I am looking forward to your next topic. :-)

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  2. Thanks for your uplifting comment Ross! You totally get me girl. Your right...I'm sure I'm no the first one to ever make chocolate covered strawberries...but the usual way of doing it needed to be revamped!! :)
    Now a days there are more and more SUPER FOODS coming into America for us to embrace and substitute into our recipes. Plus, I know several people who felt intimidated to melt their chocolate and needed guidance with that...so this will hopefully guide many!! XOXO

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  3. Looks delicious! So, true story.. My father in law, who is 99% blind due to macular degeneration, swears that because he has been eating dark chocolate daily that some of his vision is being restored! We'll see, he's still pretty blind and steps on un-suspecting grand-babies, but maybe it's improving too!

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  4. Ha, Ha, Ha Amy! What a cute and funny story! Thanks for sharing that. I love your writing and spirit. Your father-in-law NEEDS you!!!
    Any excuse for him to enjoy dark chocolate right?

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  5. This is awesome! Thanks so much for sharing!!

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