CHRISTMAS DESSERTS: CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRY CHRISTMAS TREE
Today I’m sharing my chocolate covered strawberry Christmas tree recipe with you! If you’re visiting from Our Vintage Nest, a special welcome to you! I’ve teamed up with a fun group of bloggers to bring you some creative, unique, and doable Christmas desserts that you can make this holiday season. (Be sure to check out all of the links at the end of the post for more delicious Christmas dessert ideas.)
This recipe is more of a DIY tutorial than an actual recipe. I came up with the idea myself, but a quick Google search showed me that my “original idea” has been done before. Womp, womp…. I cannot tell you how many times that has happened to me! Ah well, I have never seen anyone do a strawberry Christmas tree like this before so chances are good that your friends haven’t either!
SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRY TREE
Poster board
Hot glue gun
Parchment paper
or freezer paper
Scissors
Room-temperature strawberries (I used 5 pints on a 15 inch tall tree.)
2 bags Ghiradelli Dark Melting Wafers
(or 16 ounces 60% Ghiradelli chocolate chips
melted with 1 T coconut oil)Fresh mint
Powdered sugar
STEP 1: MAKE YOUR CONE AND COVER WITH FREEZER PAPER.
The easiest and least expensive way to make a Christmas tree form is with a sheet of poster board. Tape a piece of twine to the top corner of your board and hold the twine and pencil in your hand. Keeping the twine taut, draw an arc on your board. I started drawing 15 inches down. This makes a rather large tree and will require a LOT of strawberries! Feel free to make your cone smaller or larger depending on your needs. Cut along your line. Trace the cone template on parchment paper or freezer paper and again cut out the pattern. Tape the parchment or freezer paper to the cone. Hot glue the seams of the poster board together to form a cone.
STEP 2: WASH, DRY, AND DE-STEM YOUR STRAWBERRIES.
Your strawberries should be clean, dry, and at room temperature before you dip them in chocolate. It’s a good idea at this point to organize your strawberries by size. You will place the largest strawberries at the bottom of the tree and the smallest at the top.
STEP 3: MELT YOUR CHOCOLATE.
Follow the package directions for melting chocolate. Work with one package at a time and melt more chocolate as needed. If you use the Ghiradelli melting wafers
, your chocolate will set up almost immediately and your strawberries will not slip. If using melted chocolate chips with coconut oil, you may need to wait a bit for the chocolate to set.
STEP 4: STARTING WITH THE LARGEST STRAWBERRIES, DIP THE BASE OF EACH STRAWBERRY INTO THE CHOCOLATE AND ADHERE TO THE CONE.
Layer the strawberries as you go.
When you reach the top, core a larger strawberry to cover the top of the tree.
STEP 5: ADORN WITH FRESH MINT.
Cover up any holes with fresh mint leaves. This step is optional, but it adds a lot of cheer to your strawberry tree!
Tip: If you still have some visible holes, place your melted chocolate in a plastic baggie. Snip the corner of the bag to create a “piping bag” and pipe the chocolate into the holes.
STEP 6: ONLY IF SERVING IMMEDIATELY. DUST TREE WITH POWDERED SUGAR.
Powdered sugar will break down your strawberries more quickly, so only dust them with sugar if serving immediately. I used a small sieve and “snowed” sugar over them from above until I was pleased with the look. This dessert will feed a crowd and is meant to be eaten within a day of making it. For best results, make it and serve it the same day.
And that’s all there is to it! For maximum chocolate enjoyment, use a butter knife or flat knife to remove the strawberries from the cone.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Next on the hop is Amy from Tonality Designs who is sharing her special Caramel Glazed Cookie Recipe with you. Enjoy and feel free to pin ideas for later!
