food

Halloween Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

About

Cute little monsters share the stage with pumpkins and ghosts on this Halloween dessert platter. For variety, you can create monsters with different colors of sanding sugar–just make sure to match the candy melting wafers to the sugar. You can make these treats several hours ahead and refrigerate them, but don’t refrigerate the monsters for longer than an hour as the moisture in the refrigerator will cause the candy eyes to run.

Monster

Ghosts

Pumpkins

Ingredients

  1. For the monsters: Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Put the candy wafers in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally once the wafers soften, until smooth. If the candy starts to reharden or seize up, stir in a teaspoon or so of coconut oil or shortening and stir again until smooth.
  2. Spread the sanding sugar in a small shallow bowl. Gather a strawberry at the leaves and dip into the melted candy, letting the excess drip back into the bowl. Gently press the coated strawberry in the sugar, coating it completely (don’t press too hard or you’ll get too much sugar on the strawberry). Set leaf-side down on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining strawberries. Refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes, keeping the remaining melted candy warm in the double boiler.
  3. Spread a tiny bit of the remaining melted candy on the back of 2 candy eyeballs and press them on near the tip of the strawberry. Meanwhile, if you’d like to make mouths on your monsters, melt the chocolate chips in a small bowl in the microwave. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe mouths onto the monsters. Let sit until eyes and mouths are set, about 10 minutes.
  4. For the ghosts: Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Put the candy wafers in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally once the wafers soften, until smooth. If the candy melts start to reharden or seize up, stir in a teaspoon or so of coconut oil or shortening and stir again until smooth.
  5. Gather a strawberry at the leaves and dip into the melted candy, letting some but not all of the excess drip back into the bowl. Set leaf-side up on the prepared baking sheet, letting the excess melted candy pool into the front to create the bottom of the ghost. Repeat with the remaining strawberries. Refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes.
  6. Meanwhile, melt the black candy wafers or chocolate chips in a small bowl in the microwave, following the microwave instructions on the package if using candy wafers. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Once the white candy has set, pipe small ovals for the nose and eyes on each ghost and let set 10 to 15 minutes.
  7. For the pumpkins: Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Put the candy wafers in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally once the wafers soften, until smooth. If the candy starts to reharden or seize up, stir in a teaspoon or so of coconut oil or shortening and stir again until smooth.
  8. Gather a strawberry at the leaves and dip into the melted candy, letting the excess drip back into the bowl. Set leaf-side up on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining strawberries. Refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes.
  9. Meanwhile, transfer the remaining orange melted candy to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip. Once the coating on the strawberries has hardened, pipe vertical lines from top to bottom for the ribs on a pumpkin. Refrigerate until set, about 5 minutes.
  10. Melt the chocolate chips in a small bowl in the microwave. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe eyes, mouths and noses on the pumpkins to resemble jack-o’-lanterns and let set 10 to 15 minutes.