Plump juicy strawberries coated with a crisp shell of chocolate create fruit truffles that are both light and delicious. The perfect addition to any brunch, or with a glass of champagne for dessert, these decadent yet innocent treats combine two favorite flavors that will make your heart sing.

To prepare Chocolate Dipped Strawberries:

Cooks note: There really is no magic to dipping berries, but here are a few tips that will help you.

Start with the freshest berries you can find. This is not always an easy task, but look for berries that are bright in color, firm with no soft or dark spots, and that have bright green tops. Wash the berries and spread them out on a towel to dry completely. Make sure the berries and the tops are totally dry before starting. Chocolate and water do not mix!

Use a good quality chocolate for dipping. I like to use a dark and a white chocolate, however you can use whatever you prefer. Some recipes call for adding oil to the chocolate. If you are using a quality product, there is no reason to do so.

One of the great things about this treat is you can make any quantity you choose. If you intend to preparing a large quantity, I find it best to melt the chocolate over a double boiler. If I am only dipping a dozen or so, I temper my chocolate in the microwave in a small bowl to conserve chocolate, and make dipping easy. Gently pull the leaves up to create a handle. Dip the berry and tip it from side to side to coat. If your berries are different sizes, dip the largest berries first, while the dish is full of chocolate.

Gently shake the berries to allow the extra chocolate to drip off. Place the dipped strawberries on a wax or parchment paper lined sheet pan to set up. The chocolate will harden in about 20 -30 minutes depending on the temperature in your work space. I do not recommend placing your berries in the fridge. While the cold temperature of the fridge will speed up the hardening process, it will cause the chocolate to sweat.

It is almost impossible not to get chocolate on your fingers. Keep a damp and a dry towel handy to clean your hands, but make sure your fingers are dry before moving on.

There will be some wasted chocolate. It is impossible to use every drop when dipping. Remember the chocolate you have used to dip now contains some strawberry, so it is really not much use for any other project. I spread the remaining amount out on to a piece of wax paper and allow it to harden. Break into pieces, easy strawberry chocolate fudge!

Once the chocolate shell is hardened, I like to drizzle the berries with a contrasting color of chocolate for interest. I place the berries on a wire rack over wax paper to do so. Be creative and have fun.

Make sure to allow plenty of time for your chocolates to set up. Wear rubber gloves to handle your chocolates. Warm fingers leave prints.

Chocolate dipped strawberries do not hold very long. You can dip them a day ahead, but I would advise against any longer, as the strawberries will break down. Store your berries lightly covered at room temperature and out of direct sunlight. I do not recommend placing them in the fridge for storage. This is a treat that is best prepared the same day you plan to serve them.

In France, Belgium, New Orleans, Acadiana, Newfoundland and the Congo, French toast is known as pain perdu. French for lost bread, pain perdu reclaims stale or “lost” bread by soaking it in an egg and cream mixture overnight before being pan frying in butter and then baking. The stale bread drinks up the egg mixture which creates a custard like center in the bread, making this hands down the most delicious French toast I have ever tasted.

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Pain Perdu

French for lost bread, pain perdu reclaims stale or “lost” bread by soaking it in an egg and cream mixture overnight before being pan frying in butter and then baking. The stale bread drinks up the egg mixture which creates a custard like center in the bread, making this hands down the most delicious French toast I have ever tasted.

Course Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine French

Prep Time 8 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 8 hours hours 40 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 6 extra-large eggs
• 1½ cups cream or half-n-half
• ¼ cup Grand Marnier or brandy
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 6 slices French bread cut about 3″ thick
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• flour
• maple syrup
• powdered sugar
• strawberry preserves

Instructions

• Place bread in a baking dish so the slices lay flat and are not crowded.
• In a medium size bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, Grand Marnier, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Pour over bread. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate eight hours or overnight, turn once to ensure even absorption.
• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Heat a large oven-proof sauté pan over medium high heat and add butter.
• Dust the egg soaked bread with flour and a sprinkle of sugar.
• When the butter has melted and stopped foaming, place the bread in the pan floured side down. Dust the uncooked tops with flour and sugar. Cook for about 5 - 7 minutes to brown and then turn.
• Place the pan in the hot oven for 12 to 15 minutes until the bread has puffed up.

Serve

• Serve hot with a drizzle with maple syrup, a dusting of powdered sugar, and a dollop of fresh strawberry preserves. Of course bacon is always a welcome side.

Notes

A crusty hard bread is a must for this dish. I cut 3″ slices of french bread, and allow them to dry out for a day before using for this recipe. Plan one thick slice per person.

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.  

~  Washington Irving

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All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.

 ~  Oscar Wilde

There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.

 ~  Chinese Proverb

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A man’s work is from sun to sun, but a mother’s work is never done.  

~  Unknown Author

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.

~ Rajneesh

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God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.

~ Jewish Proverb

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I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life. 

~  Abraham Lincoln

Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.

~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

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The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.

~  Henry Ward Beecher

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That best academy, a mother’s knee.  

~  James Russell Lowell

Wishing everyone a very special Mother’s Day!