pinterest recipe copy cat

today was a pinterest day.  we have some friends who recently had their second child.  i love feeding people and i love danielle and simon and their two girls, so i am taking them dinner saturday night. 

it's pretty easy to cook for myself because if it totally flops, we can just grab something quick.  if you are taking a meal to someone, you don't exactly want it to be a disaster.  so i turned to the one resource that i have come to depend on for tons of no-fail recipes -- pinterest.com.

on the menu -- mini meatloaf and smashed potatoes with cream cheese.  and for dessert, chocolate filled strawberries -- to be clear, NOT chocolate COVERED strawberries.  I'm not one for following recipes, but the rough ratio is an 11.5 oz bag of chocolate chips to 15-20 large strawberries.  I used milk chocolate this time, but I want to try dark chocolate next time.  here's how i did it:

first, i scooped out the middle of the strawberries.  when i first saw this idea on pinterest, i didn't like the thought of wasting the whole inside of the strawberry.  i used a little paring knife.  stick the end into the strawberry by the stem at a 45 degree angle.  keeping the tip of the knife in the middle of the strawberry as you cut around the stem.  when you pull out the top, the inside will be removed.  you won't have waste at all.


next, i washed the strawberries.  i rinsed out the inside and outside and let them dry on a paper towel upside down.  (aren't those strawberries just gems?!)

while the strawberries were drying out a bit, i began melting the chocolate.  the original recipe that i read said to use the microwave to melt the chocolate.  i melted the chocolate in a regular saucepan on the stove instead.  

melting the chocolate is my most challenging part of this process...because it requires enduring patience.  if you heat the chocolate too quickly, it becomes dry and chalky.  so melt slowly...
if it starts to look dry, add a small scoop of lard or some butter.  this will help smooth it out and makes the chocolate look shiny.

now, here's the controversy -- some people use egg cartons to hold the strawberries upright, but apparently you are at risk for contamination from people's dirty hands and salmonella poisoning.  i used mini muffin tins that i had laying around because i don't keep empty egg cartons.  you could also use tiny dixie cups.

put them in the fridge for about 10 minutes so the chocolate hardens a bit.  then ENJOY!!