Chocolate-covered strawberries never go out of style. They make phenomenal treats, take seconds to make, and only need a couple of ingredients. Using natural food colorings, you can create Halloween chocolate-covered strawberries.
But there are a few tricks to creating colorful chocolate-covered strawberries to share.
White Chocolate isn’t Real Chocolate
Let’s look a little closer at white chocolate.
Regardless of the name, white chocolate isn’t true chocolate. Typically the ingredients are cocoa butter, milk, sugar, and vanilla. This means white chocolate has a high oil content-which explains why white chocolate is harder to melt. It has a lower melting point and clumps with water or water-soluble ingredients.
So, if you’re going to add extra ingredients to the creamy base, make sure it’s oil-soluble. Confectioners often add coconut or olive oil to the white chocolate base for a smoother dip.
Oil-Soluble Colorings for Halloween Chocolate-Covered Strawberries
When adding color to melted white chocolate, make sure it’s oil-soluble! Most liquid food colorings, natural and artificial, are water-based. Luckily, Nature’s Flavors carries oil-soluble yellow and orange liquid food coloring used in this recipe.
To determine if a food coloring is water or oil-based, check the ingredients. If water is on the list then it’s definitely water-based.
Oil-based liquid food colorings can be hard to find, instead, try to look for natural food coloring powders.
Other than the base of your natural coloring, heat is another factor that can affect your Halloween chocolate-covered strawberries.
How Heat Affects Natural Food Colorings
Plant-derived colorings react differently to heat, air, and light than their artificial counterparts. Why? Because they’re natural and don’t contain harmful chemicals to alter their wholesome elements.
High heat can transform your naturally-colored mixture into an entirely different look. For this recipe, add the coloring after the white chocolate melts and is off the stove. If you’re using a microwave, add the coloring after the white chocolate is completely melted
For more tips on heat and natural colorings, check out Natural Food Colorings and How to Use Them.
Halloween Chocolate-Covered Strawberries
Equipment
- 3 Dipping Bowls
- 1 Drying Rack
- 12 Skewer Sticks optional
- 1 Small Sauce Pan optional
- 1 Large Sauce Pan optional
Ingredients
- 16 oz White Chocolate Melting Disks
- 1 & 1/8 tsp Natural Orange Food Coloring Oil Soluble
- 1 tsp Natural Yellow Food Coloring Oil Soluble
- 12 Fresh Strawberries
Instructions
- Rinse and completely dry your strawberries. Be sure to leave the stems on for easy dipping or you can use skewer sticks. Any sort of water or water-soluble product will cause the melted white chocolate to clump.
- On low heat, use the double broiler method to melt 6 ounces of the white chocolate. Gently mix the disks together.
- Once melted, place the white chocolate into a bowl and dip all the strawberries as much as you can. Allow the white chocolate to harden for at least 5 minutes or until dry.
- Repeat step two but use only 5 ounces of white chocolate. Once the white chocolate is melted, place the mixture into a bowl and in the orange food coloring. Mix the melted white chocolate and food coloring until the color is evenly distributed.
- Dip the strawberries halfway into the orange food coloring and allow them to dry.
- Next, melt your last bit of white chocolate and pour it into a dipping bowl. Place 1 tsp of yellow food coloring and ONE drop of orange food coloring. Mix until the color is evenly distributed.
- Dip the strawberries on a ¼ of the way down and allow them to dry. Plate them and serve them at your next Halloween bash!
