Tuxedo Strawberries and Strawberry Crostini

Two easy, elegant ways to use fresh strawberries: as homemade chocolate dipped tuxedo strawberries AND as a simple strawberry crostini with balsamic strawberries!

It starts with a strawberry.

Or maybe thirty strawberries.

And then one day, you decide to dip those strawberries in chocolate and with them throw yourself headfirst into the blogosphere because hey, why not?

(At least, that's what I did).

After months of brainstorming in search of the perfect name and a ridiculous amount of time spent trying to teach myself the ways of web design, I present Life As A Strawberry. (Wahoo!)

In celebration, I'm giving you TWO WHOLE RECIPES that give you a reason to buy the bucket of strawberries that's been calling your name at the grocery store. (If they haven't been calling your name, go get some anyway. It's worth it, I promise).

Welcome to post number one. Let's start with dessert!

Chocolate covered strawberries are pretty much the best things ever. And today, they get all dressed up to help me celebrate my first blog post. Start by dipping a strawberry in white chocolate, and then give it a few friends.

Yumm-o.

Then dip some berries in semi-sweet chocolate, too. Because you can.

Now, walk away.

Go call your mom. Clean your kitchen. Organize your closet. Whatever. But let your berries set up a bit so that when you dip them again they'll be solid, not melty. If you're having the same blazing, terrible heat as we are, you can pop them in the fridge for twenty minutes or so. That usually does the trick.

When the initial chocolate coating has hardened a bit, give those white ones a lil' tux. Dip one side in the darker chocolate at an angle...

...and then do the same to the other side.

Annnnnnnd repeat.

Take your extra white and semi-sweet chocolate and put each in a separate small plastic bag. Cut the teensiest-tiniest hole you can manage in the corner so you can pipe some decorations on your berries. If you accidentally cut too big of a hole, or if you'd rather not use a bag, a toothpick dipped in the chocolate will work just as well, although it will go a bit slower. Pipe some buttons on your berries' tuxes.

And then give 'em little bowties.

Now drizzle the extra white chocolate over your semi-sweet strawberries.

FANCY.

While you're fighting the temptation to eat all of your berries RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT, slice up some new strawberries and let them marinate in a bowl with a bit of balsamic vinegar. While those are delicious-ifying themselves, toast some baguette slices in the broiler with a drizzle of olive oil.

When the toast is toasted, let it cool for a few minutes while you make your cheese and herb mixture. Then spoon that onto your baguette slices. Top with a few slices of balsamic strawberries.

Take a bite. Do a happy dance. Eat almost all of the strawberry crostini before you remember you still have tuxedo strawberries sitting on your counter. Worry that you're ruining your dinner. Get over that crazy thinking pretty quickly and take another bite.

If you're not a strawberries-covered-in-balsamic-vinegar fan, you could easily mix a bit of the vinegar into the cheese mixture to retain the tangy-ness and put regular ol' sliced strawberries on top. This cheese mix is also stellar all by itself on top of any kind of toast. Substitute tomatoes or chick peas for the strawberries if you want to mix it up a little.

Thanks for reading, friends. Stay tuned for more from my kitchen!

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