Welcome back to The Weedeater, Racket’s column exploring the exciting world of cooking with cannabis. Each month, I walk you through a tasty new cannabis-based recipe with foolproof (also foolwritten and fooltested!) instructions on how to make it yourself. Some are fast and easy. Others, elaborate and oh so very dumb. But all are delicious and leave you feeling real nice. With that, let’s get cooked!
Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry Dipped Chocolate Strawberries
On April 20, 2024, I ate a THC caramel that I was told was either 30mg or 90mg. It was a gamble for sure, but hey, sometimes you just have to roll those dice. It didn’t take long for said dice to roll me over—it was, in fact, 90mg. The day turned into quite the adventure from there, one in which I found out I’m shockingly good at darts when my mind exists on another plane of existence.
One stop on my unexpected journey that day found me at Simply Crafted in northeast Minneapolis to shop their 4/20 sale. It was there, higher than ever before, that I became captivated by a chocolate bar, specifically the MLLW Chocolate-Covered Strawberry chocolate bar. Now, any other time, I would’ve just seen a creatively flavored chocolate bar. But that day? That day, I saw an opportunity to create the world’s best edible.
“Willy Wonka doesn’t have shit on me,” I thought, and possibly mumbled aloud, as my mind raced. Do I dare make chocolate-dipped strawberries by dipping strawberries in the chocolate-dipped strawberry chocolate? No. That wasn’t enough. That would only get me six feet from the edge. I needed to fall all six feet down, too. I knew what I had to do. I had to dip the strawberry in a different chocolate first, then give it a dip in the chocolate-dipped strawberry chocolate to give me a chocolate-dipped strawberry dipped in chocolate-dipped strawberry chocolate. By god, I’d done it. I’d created the world’s ultimate edible!
He really didn’t have shit on me.
And thus, the chocolate-dipped strawberry dipped chocolate strawberry was born. (Again, I was very high.) Funny enough, this unhinged train of thought ultimately led to The Weedeater’s very existence! Anyway, seeing as it’s Pal/Gal/Valentine’s month, let’s learn to make these little marvels of food science, shall we?
Here’s What You’re Gonna Need.
- 6–9 large strawberries
- 1 Retro Bakery 50mg THC Milk Chocolate bar (or other chocolate bar of your choosing, either with or without THC), finely chopped
- 1 MLLW Chocolate-Covered Strawberry chocolate bar, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
Here’s What You’re Gonna Wanna Do.
- Rinse your berries. You don’t have to sing “Happy Birthday” or anything like that to make sure you do it long enough. Just make sure they look clean and dry before you dip them.
- Melt your first chocolate bar. NOTE: For my inner dip, I went with a Retro Bakery milk chocolate bar so I’d get a classic chocolate-dipped strawberry experience. That said, there are a ton of locally made THC chocolate bars on the market, so don’t be afraid to get weird with it. You can also forgo the THC for this layer and use a regular ol’ chocolate bar if you want, though I recommend springing for something a little higher-quality than Hershey’s, as it will yield a snappier chocolate shell. Go for a Lindt or a Godiva—something of that caliber. You deserve it. OK, back to the melting.
- Fill a small saucepan with about half an inch of water. Bring it to a simmer and turn the heat as low as it’ll go. Place a medium heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan. The bowl should dip down into the pan without touching the water. Congratulations! You’ve just made a double boiler! Add about 2/3 of your first chocolate bar (again, finely chopped) and melt completely, stirring as needed with a rubber spatula. If it begins to scorch, turn the heat off and double-check that the bowl isn’t touching the water. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of the coconut oil. It will give the final chocolate shell a lovely sheen and a satisfying snap. (Fun fact: Coconut oil is the secret ingredient in that magic shell chocolate sauce that hardens when it hits ice cream!)
- Remove the bowl from the pan and mix in the remaining 1/3 of the first chocolate bar, stirring constantly until it’s all melted and incorporated. Keep stirring until the mixture begins to cool and thicken slightly. If it starts to feel too thick and not dippable, just pop it back over the pan for a few seconds to remelt it.
- Dip your berries. Hold each one by the stem and gently give it a dunk in its chocolatey bath, rotating it in the mixture to ensure complete coverage. Let excess chocolate drip back into the pool before placing it on a wire rack or parchment-lined baking sheet. Eventually, you’ll be left with a pool of chocolate that’s too small to dip any more berries into it. That’s what we call a “chef’s treat!” Spatula that excess chocolate directly into your mouth. Licking the bowl and spatula is highly encouraged here. Keep track of roughly how much chocolate you didn’t dip to help determine dosage later on. When all your berries are dipped, place the pan in the fridge to chill for 15–20 minutes.
- For the outer dip, repeat the above steps using the star of the show: The chocolate-dipped strawberry chocolate bar.
- Scarf! You can either enjoy the whole batch yourself or distribute your lovingly made chocolate-dipped strawberry dipped chocolate strawberries amongst your lover(s), your friends, and, most importantly, your enemies, so you always keep them guessing!
Or, You Can Take the Easy Way Out.
Whenever possible, I want to provide an easier alternative to enjoy the recipes featured in The Weedeater. With chocolate-dipped strawberries, that’s a little easier said than done. However, since I’m deeply committed to the more couch-based stoners among us still enjoying these recipes, here goes my best attempt at simplifying this one.
- Place a one-serving square of each chocolate bar in your mouth.
- Chew for 3–5 seconds.
- With chocolate still in mouth, eat a strawberry.
- Chew until you are confident you won’t choke.
- Swallow.
At first glance, you might think I’m just giving you step-by-step instructions on how to eat food here. And you’re right, I am! But I have to say, the deconstructed-build-in-your-mouth method works when you need it to.
Another way to simplify this recipe is to limit yourself to one dip. Not only does this save some time and a few steps, but it’s also a good way to reduce the THC dose if you have a lower tolerance. You’ll miss out on the meta-ness of it all, but you’ll still wind up with a tasty treat.
Speaking of the Dose…
As shown in this recipe’s origin story, I’m no stranger to throwing caution to the wind when it comes to THC dosages in edibles. If you also fall into that category, you can go nuts on your berries. But if you’re someone with average to slightly above average intelligence and want to know your dosages, you’ll have to do a little math. Don’t worry; it’s pretty simple and won’t be on the quiz.
OK, so remember the non-dipped chocolate you ate post-dipping? That’s your shrinkage. Subtract your shrinkage from the first bar’s full dosage. Divide that number by how many berries you dipped. Depending on the size of your berries, that will probably be between six and nine (nice!) That’s your dosage per dip, or DPD.
Calculate the DPD of your second bar. Add both DPDs together to determine your dosage per berry, or DPB. My DPB was around 10-12mg. If you only did one dip per berry, then your DPD is your DPB. See? Easy!
If those dosages sound a little high for your liking, you can swap out some of the THC chocolate with a non-THC chocolate. The process is the same either way.
I’ll be honest: Despite all the fanfare in my own mind, I kind of figured these would just taste like chocolate-dipped strawberries. Oh, how wrong I was. When I tried one for the first time, I uttered the phrase, “The juice is definitely worth the squeeze,” to no one but my cat. These things are tasty. It may seem obvious, but the chocolate-dipped strawberry chocolate pairs very well with the chocolate-dipped strawberry. It tastes exactly like you want a chocolate-covered strawberry to taste but turned up to 11. Plus, you know… it’ll get you high. So yeah, I’d say the juice is worth the squeeze on this one.
Welp, that’s all for this one. See you next time!
