3.18.2012

Berry, Berry Good

A few days I pinned something that needed to be made immediately.  As in, right away.

This is the item in question:


Now do you understand the sense of urgency?  

I thought so.

It was originally pinned from the website of a fancy-pants French chocolatier.  And the pinner implied that it could be made easily.  Insert strawberries in ice cube tray, cover with melted chocolate, freeze. 

That's it.  The instructions were so easy I couldn't afford not to try it.  Plus I had company coming, the perfect excuse to make something so decadent. 

In typical `A Casarella fashion I decided to document the process so the good viewers at home could play along.

Probably the hardest thing about this little project was finding an ice cube tray.  My fridge makes ice and I didn't own a tray.  I picked one up at Bed, Bath & Beyond and I love it because it has a cover (to prevent icky freezer burn).  If you need one (but don't want to change out of your pajamas to get it) I've attached an Amazon link in the footer of the blog.



Because my ice cube tray has narrow slots, I had to slice the berries (instead of inserting them whole as seen above) so I got out my knife and cutting board.


I bought some beautiful organic strawberries but to be honest, they weren't the most flavorful.   


Luckily that wasn't too noticeable once I covered them with roughly a pound of dark chocolate from Trader Joe's.
I'm not kidding either; I used almost this entire bar.  When I bought it I was sure there might be a bit left over.  

(You know... in case mama needed a little something to get her mind right.)

But we'll get back to the chocolate in a sec.

 So I went ahead and cut up the strawberries and put a few pieces in each slot.


 Then I broke up a bunch of the chocolate and melted it in the microwave.  As mentioned above, I ended up using most of the chocolate so I repeated the melting step a few times before I finished.


(Gratuitous molten chocolate shot.)



Then I covered each slot with chocolate.  If I were to do this again, I would probably put a little chocolate under each berry--a chocolate cushion if you will--I think if I'd done that mine probably would have looked a bit more like the original.





 When I was done covering the berries, I gently dropped the container on the counter a few times to even out the chocolate.  


Then I slid on the cover...


And popped them in my (desperate-for-a-cleaning) freezer.


They emerged a few hours later nicely hardened.  

I thought I'd be able to twist and pop them out like ice cubes.

But they wouldn't budge.


Here you can see where I tried (without luck) to chisel one out.


Finally I decided to put the whole tray in a shallow dish of hot water.  (Thankfully, they popped right out afterwards.)



 
And here's the finished product.


 
They're not nearly as perfect as the inspiration picture.  (They came out individually as opposed to one big bar, for starters.)


 
But they sure were tasty!


I'm going to link up over at this party; stop by and checkout all the easy-peasy projects!
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28 comments

  1. Sono fantastiche. Bravissima.
    Ciao

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  2. Thank you, Julia!

    And Grazie, Rosetta :)

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  3. Clever!
    I love your tutorials... you always mix in a little humor that gives it just that bit of extra flavour!!
    xx

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  4. Those wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in my house! Delicious!

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  5. Thanks, Sarah. we made short work of them too!

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  6. I am SO trying this! Elena, your blog is AWESOME!

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  7. They look so good!

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  8. They sound yummy! Love that you documented the whole process. Would love for you to share at http://iamaddictedtorecipes.blogspot.ca/p/link-party.html
    Have a great day!

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  9. what a great idea, that would be so good!

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  10. Thanks so much for sharing at Scrumptious Sunday!! Can't wait to see what you link up next week :-)

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  11. Looks yummy and "artistic"

    I like to add a generous sprinkle of chipolte to anything chocolate ... cakes, ice cream sauce, brownies, etc. A sprinkle does something to the "mouth feel" response making the chocolate even richer. A bit more gives the chocolate a spicy hot flavor. I like it hot, but go light for most other people ... except those I know who like it like I do.

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  12. Ooh, Nellie! What a good idea. My favorite San Diego chocolate shop sells a chipotle chocolate that's to die for. I'm going to remember that for next time.

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  13. Well they sure do look good in spite of it. I have learned with chocolate, I just drizzle it all over the product with wax paper under it. Nothing ever turns out recipe wise with me the way it is suppose to. As long as it tastes good. Thanks for sharing with newbie party.

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  14. You've been featured on Wednesday Whatsits! Come by this week's party to grab your button. Thanks for linking up! I hope to see you again. :)

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  15. What an awesome idea! Strawberries in an ice cube tray! I need to make these...thanks so much for the inspiration!

    Thanks for linking up to the party :)


    blessings,
    karianne

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  16. Yum! I would love these for breakfast right. now! Thanks for linking this up too. :)
    Karah

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  17. Elena,
    My girls favorites are chocolate covered strawberries and these are definitely on our list of recipes to try!

    Another fab Cinch idea!
    Kelly

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  18. Um, I'm pretty sure those are the most delicious looking "ice cubes" I've ever seen!!! Yumm!

    Thanks for linking it up!
    --Katie
    @ Creatively Living

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  19. Don't feel bad, the person that claimed they were made in an ice cube tray liecd- that's a chocolate bar mold used for the original photo. You would fill the chocolate mold about half full, freeze until mostly hardened, then dip your berries and sit them flat/cut side down onto the bar. Freeze again, then you would have a nice bar of chocolate with easy to break off berries. :))

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  20. Thanks Mariah. The original picture that I repinned linked to nowhere. It took me forever to find the true source and once I did I figured that method might not be right :)

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  21. Qué rico! Me encanta la idea :)
    Thank you :)

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