Chocolate Covered Stuffed Strawberries: Cheesecake, Cookie Dough, Marscapone

With Valentine's Day only a week away, I thought I'd start posting some of my favorite easy recipes.

I love Strawberries, and I think you can't get more romantic than Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Last year I posted a recipe for Chocolate Covered Strawberries to Die For.. the extra kick is the ancho chile powder!

This year, I'm suggesting you get even more imaginative and stuff the strawberries with something wonderful such as cheesecake filling, marscapone, tiramasu, or cookie dough! Yes, cookie dough!

There are no real directions on how to do this, but I have a few hints. Pick lovely whole plump strawberries. Wash them and pat dry with paper towels. Melt the chocolate (good quality) with a little cream or butter..or just chocolate.. see past recipes. Dip in the chocolate (3/4 way up) before stuffing and put chocolate covered strawberries on a waxpaper covered cookie sheet. Put in the refrigerator for a few hours before cutting and stuffing. For stuffing: Fill a baggy or pastry bag with your filling of choice (that has been chilled).

Now for stuffing. Cut off the stem of strawberry and hollow out the inside. Take a pastry bag or plastic bag with a corner cut out and pipe in the filling.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries: You can make regular cream cheesecake filling and add some crushed graham crackers for authenticity, or not. Straight Cheesecake filling is great, too!  Make it easy on yourself, and buy something like Ready to Eat Cheesecake Filling or whip some cream cheese with a little vanilla and cream and sugar. No exact measurements. Tasting is the best judge! Be sure and leave enough time to chill the Cheesecake Filling before stuffing and the finished Chocolate Covered Strawberries.

For the Cookie Dough Strawberries, follow the same procedure. You might want to dip these strawberries in milk chocolate and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. I'm a dark chocolate fan, no matter what, but it's a suggestion!

Get Creative: For the Marscapone or Tiramasu fillings, follow the same directions as for Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries.

Happy Valentine's Day!