The Simple Way To Turn Chocolate Covered Strawberries Into Edible String Lights

Tis the season to get creative and chocolate-covered strawberries provide you with the perfect culinary canvas to do just that. You can transform these sweet fruits into a yummy, edible, and colorful string of Christmas tree light bulbs with just a few extra ingredients and steps. Instead of milk or dark chocolate, use melted white chocolate and your favorite food dyes to create the colorful "bulbs." Use white and blue for a Frozen theme or go the more traditional route and color your chocolate all the primary and secondary colors. You can even give them a dusting of edible gold or silver edible glitter for a little shimmer and shine.

To craft the base upon which the "lights" -- the strawberry dipped in colorful chocolate -- rest, use Reeses peanut butter cup chocolate bells. Pro tip: You want to do this before the chocolate hardens. Arrange them on a platter and pipe some chocolate to form the chord that "strings" them together. Voila, you have a festive holiday treat that everyone will enjoy.

Read more: Chocolate Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

Use The Right Food Coloring

One thing to remember when working with white chocolate and dye is it can become grainy, thick, and clumpy as you melt it if you add the dye at wrong time. This is called seizing and is a result of the dye being a different temperature from the chocolate. The type of dye you are using to create your string of lights determines when you should add it. Powdered dye needs to be added as the chocolate begins to melt whereas liquid dye should be added prior to the chocolate melting. And if you are using any type of oil-based dye, you need to warm it and add it after the chocolate has melted. If your chocolate does seize, add a teaspoon of boiling water, stir, and repeat until it is smooth and silky.

If you are not a fan of peanut butter and chocolate -- no judgment -- you can use other sweets to form the base of your light. Try mini marshmallows, sugar-coated gumdrops, or Dots; shortened sticks of licorice can work for the knobby piece, or if you prefer, simply use festive, mini silver or gold cupcake liners and arrange the colorful dipped strawberry so the liner serves as the base.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.