Tuxedo Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Rinse strawberries well under water to clean. Set on paper towels and allow to dry completely. Chocolate will not adhere to strawberries properly if they are wet at all.

In a microwave-safe bowl, heat white chocolate discs for one minute. Remove and stir. Heat again for one minute. Remove and stir again until all chocolate is melted into a smooth liquid form.

Roll out a sheet of parchment paper on the counter.

You don’t want to cover the strawberries entirely with white chocolate, because when you add the darker chocolate on top, the berries will become too heavy and break off from their leaves and stems. It will then become very difficult to work with them. To avoid this, only partially cover the strawberry with white chocolate, and make sure all chocolate is smooth and each layer goes on thin, rather than thick, goopy, and heavy.

Gently grabbing a strawberry by the stem or leaves and holding it at a slant, dip into white chocolate and cover from leaves to tip on one side. Place berry “bare side down” on parchment and allow to dry. Repeat with all berries.

In a new microwave-safe bowl, heat dark or milk chocolate disks for one minute. Stir and repeat until melted and smooth. Make sure you have enough chocolate in the bowl to create a pool deep enough to dip an entire strawberry.

Once the white chocolate has completely dried on your strawberries (about 15 minutes), you are ready to dip your jackets.

Gently pick up a white-chocolate-dipped strawberry by the leaves and dip at a slant into dark chocolate, creating a diagonal line on the white chocolate, like a jacket lapel, and partially covering back half of the strawberry on that side. Then at an opposite slant, dip strawberry in dark chocolate again, creating another diagonal line for the opposite lapel, and covering the rest of the back of the strawberry. Immediately place strawberry backside down on parchment with white chocolate triangle facing up. Repeat for all strawberries.

While dark chocolate is sill melted and smooth, use the remaining amount or new mixture to fill a plastic sandwich bag. Press all air out of the bag and zip shut. Twist the empty part of the bag until chocolate is held tight in the bottom corner of the bag, ready to pipe. Cut a VERY small tip off of the bottom corner of the bag and pipe two or three buttons, and one bow-tie, onto the white chocolate shirt of each strawberry.

These look beautiful displayed on a buffet table, dessert table, cupcake tower as a centerpiece, or as a garnish on plates beside another dessert.