Milk Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries with Macadamia Nuts

The best thing about baking a batch of cookies with macadamia nuts in them, like White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies or Macadamia Oatmeal Lace Cookies, is that you’re left with a bunch of macadamia nuts to use up in other recipes. Macadamia nuts can be kind of pricey, so they’re not necessarily something I keep on hand all the time, but their buttery flavor and crunch go so well with so many dishes, I really enjoy having them around the kitchen to use here and there.

Sometimes I use chopped macadamia nuts as an ice cream topping, standing in for the peanuts often used in a hot fudge sundae, and here I used them to finish off some strawberries I dipped in milk chocolate.

You don’t really need a recipe to make these, especially if you don’t mind having some extra strawberries, chocolate and macadamia nuts around. You can just eyeball it (or look below for some estimates). Melt some chocolate, dip as many berries as you can, then sprinkle the berries with (or dip them into) coarsely chopped nuts. The flavor of the macadamias goes very well with the milk chocolate and really makes the otherwise simple treat into something a little bit more special.

Milk Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries with Macadamia Nuts
12-16 oz. fresh, ripe strawberries, cleaned
approx 6-oz milk chocolate
1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Line a baking sheet or cutting board with wax paper or parchment paper.
Chop up the chocolate roughly with a knife if it is in block form. In a medium-sized, microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave. Heat it in 45 or 60-second intervals, stirring between each time to ensure that the chocolate is melting evenly and not burning.
Dip the berries into the chocolate, sprinkle with macadamia nuts, and place on wax paper.
Berries can set at room temperature if you live somewhere cool, otherwise refrigerate them until ready to serve.