Chocolate Dipped Fruit
Le Menu Noir
A classic Valentine’s Day dessert ㅤ♡
Dip the fruit together, or package them in a cute box as take home treats for your guests.
Chocolate Dipped Fruit
makes 20-30 pieces
Tempering chocolate isn’t easy and can be downright frustrating when using the traditional method of a double boiler.
I first saw this technique using a food processor and hair dryer from an Alton Brown recipe, and it’s been backed up by other pastry chefs and from my own experience. While I wouldn’t recommend this method for a professional kitchen, it’s fairly fool-proof for tempering chocolate at home, especially since it eliminates the risk of water from a double boiler seizing the chocolate.
Shopping List
1# Valrhona Manjari 64% Dark Chocolate
20-30 pieces of fruit, like fresh strawberries, candied oranges, dried apricots, or dried mango
Equipment
food processor
thermometer or laser thermometer
hair dryer
rubber spatula
butter knife
dry mixing bowl
Steps
tempering chocolate
Rough chop the chocolate.
Place the chocolate in the food processor. Spin on high until the chocolate is finely chopped. While the machine is running, place a blow dryer over the bowl and blow in hot air, scraping down the sides and temping the chocolate as needed.
When the chocolate is 90ºF, test it by dipping a butter knife in the chocolate and let it rest in your fridge for about 3 minutes. It should be hard and snappy.
*If it’s soft or dull, continue heating the chocolate with the hair dryer until it hits 115ºF. Add more chocolate to the food processor to cool the chocolate down. (Or use the cold setting on the hair dryer). Allow the chocolate to drop to 81ºF, then reheat with the blow dryer as the machine runs until it hits 90ºF.
Transfer the chocolate to a clean and dry mixing bowl.
dipping the fruit
If using fresh fruit, wash the fruit and dry it really well. Chocolate hates water so any wet fruit will cause the chocolate to seize or it won’t stick to the fruit.
Line a sheet tray with parchment or wax paper.
Dip the fruit into the chocolate. Lift and twist, letting any excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Lay the fruit on the parchment lined sheet tray. Repeat with all fruit.
Chill the fruit until the chocolate sets. Store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve, or box them up for take home treats:)
