chocolate dipped strawberries with orange flavoured liqueur

Having acquired a flavour injector from a friend and wanting to put the injector to some culinary use, I decided to make a favourite of mine… strawberries dipped in dark chocolate… but this time injecting the strawberries with a subtle flavour of Grand Marnier (orange flavoured liqueur), making these delicious gourmet treats a little extra special.

Using the flavour injector is quite a simple procedure but does take a little practice. Too much pressure applied when injecting the strawberries resulted in me desperately trying to control the escaping stream of liqueur from the needle tip, air trapped in the syringe and you will have a spray of liqueur… now if I was a medical student I may have just killed my first patient! I do suggest setting aside a few strawberries so you can practice your injecting skills… you never know you might just get addicted!

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries with Grand Marnier

Ingredients:

• 24 medium-sized strawberries
• Grand Marnier or liqueur of your choice
• 200g of good quality dark or milk chocolate (approximately)
•  edible glitter dust (optional)

Useful Kitchen Jewelry: 

• flavour injector
• toothpick
• silicone baking mat
• cookie sheet
• heat-proof bowl
• saucepan

How to make:

Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or some baking parchment.

Wash and dry the strawberries (do not remove the stems), make sure the strawberries are completely dry as water will cause the chocolate to “seize up,” turning it into a grainy mess.

Tip: Before injecting the strawberries with the liqueur, insert a toothpick just under the stem to create a hollow channel about 3/4 ways down into the middle of the strawberry, otherwise bits of the strawberry get caught in the needle and block the flow of liqueur. While the toothpick is inserted in the strawberry, gently wiggle it around to create a cavity for the liqueur.

Insert the needle and carefully fill the strawberry cavity with the liqueur. Set the strawberries aside for about 15 minutes to help dry off any liqueur that might have overflowed, also room temperature strawberries (cold causes condensation) work better with melted chocolate than refrigerated ones.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate until smooth in a heat-proof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water.

Holding onto the stem, carefully dip each strawberry into the melted chocolate, giving the strawberry a little shake as you withdraw it from the chocolate, twisting slightly before placing onto a prepared cookie sheet.

Refrigerate the tray of strawberries until the chocolate has set before transferring onto a serving plate.