These adorable chocolate covered strawberry penguins are some of the simplest and cutest winter treats you can make! Melted chocolate, fresh strawberries, and a few candy garnishes make these a fun penguin treat that kids and adults both will love making and eating!
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Chocolate Penguin Treats
I’m all about cute and fun food, so it’s probably no surprise that I’m sharing yet another cute treat idea. These penguins are about as cute as they come and the base is a chocolate covered strawberry, so you know they’re delicious too!
I love making these for winter parties when I don’t want to do something super Christmas specific or when I just want something really cute to bring.
And if you want to just sell them as chocolate covered strawberry birds instead of penguins, they’re great for pretty much any time of year!
Why you’ll love this
- Playful – a fun and themed take on a classic treat that looks as good as it tastes.
- Easy – no need to spend precious time on food, these can be done in a matter of minutes.
- Versatile – you can serve these on their own or on a Christmas charcuterie board. Either way people will be talking about them for the rest of the night.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Chocolate – use whatever chocolate you prefer. I love a good dark chocolate personally, but they would work with milk chocolate or semi-chocolate as well. Choose the chocolate that fits who you’re serving.
- Sprinkles – if you have trouble finding them in your store you can always buy these ones and simply pick out the orange ones. You can also use an orange M&M for the beak if you’d prefer.
- Strawberries – I recommend only using fresh strawberries. Frozen strawberries just don’t work great!
- Candy eyeballs – you should be able to find them in your local store, but if not you can always find them here.
Recommended tools
I also recommend these tools to make the drying process as easy as possible!
- Bamboo skewers – I’ve linked to the 6″ here but any size really would work
- Foam flower block – you can also use an actual cake pop stand if you’d prefer, but a foam block is cheaper and just as easy to use!
How to make this cute penguin dessert
You are just a few short steps away from having the cutest little penguins for all your holiday party needs. Below you will find detailed instructions and pictures so your penguins come out as adorable as possible.
1 – prepare strawberries
- Begin by rinsing off the strawberries.
- Let them dry completely. If you want the strawberries to dry quickly, use a paper towel to individually dry each one after rinsing them. If you don’t dry the strawberries, the chocolate will not stick to them.
2 – melt chocolate
- In a small microwave safe bowl, add the chopped chocolate.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave. The best way to do this is to melt the chocolate in 30-second increments stirring between each one, until the chocolate is fully melted.
3 – cover strawberries in chocolate
- Place a skewer into the strawberry where the stem is.
- Dip the dried strawberry diagonally into the melted chocolate so that the top is covered.
- Rotate the strawberry and dip the other diagonal. While the strawberry is in the chocolate, rotate it to make sure the backside of the strawberry is fully covered while still leaving a triangle in the front for the penguin’s belly.
Once you get the hang of it you should be able to simply dip the chocolate in one motion while still leaving the belly exposed.
4 – decorate and Dry the strawberries
- While the chocolate is still wet add the candy eyes just above the exposed belly.
- Then add two round sprinkles just below the eyes but still above the exposed part of the penguin. Stack them on top of each other to create a beak.
- Place the skewers wherever you’re going to let them dry, making sure to keep the skewers in an upright position. This will take 20 to 30 minutes for the chocolate to completely set if you leave them out and shorter time if you put them in the fridge.
Drying Tip
The easiest way to keep the skewers upright is to place them into floral foam to dry. If you don’t have floral foam you can use an empty cardboard box as well and just poke holes into the cardboard like I did with my Peeps pops. If you want the chocolate to harden even faster, you can put them in the fridge to dry.
Once the chocolate is completely set you can remove the skewers and put them on a pretty serving plate, a cake stand, or even in a bowl! Or if you’d prefer to leave them on the skewers, you can serve them just like they are!
Tips & tricks
The easiest way to clean strawberries is to let them soak in a bowl of cold water for fifteen minutes then placed on a clean towel to air dry.
Adding a teaspoon of coconut oil to the chocolate will make it easier to work with and give it a smoother finish.
Make these ahead up to one day ahead of time then keep them stored in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. They will stay good as long as your strawberries are good.
Recipe FAQs
Can I use frozen strawberries?
Using frozen strawberries won’t work for this recipe, they will unthaw and become mushy and not enjoyable to eat.
Can I use dark chocolate to cover strawberries?
Dark chocolate can be used for coating these strawberries. Any type of chocolate will work other than white unless you want a white penguin.
How do you get chocolate to stick to strawberries?
Chocolate will stick to the strawberries as long as the strawberries are completely dry. If the strawberries are wet or previously frozen the chocolate will have a hard time sticking to it.
Should strawberries be cold before dipping in chocolate?
I recommend using room temperature strawberries rather than cold ones for these penguins. Cold strawberries will allow the chocolate to set quicker which can be finicky when trying to decorate the penguins. Using room-temperature strawberries is best for this recipe.
More Cute Treats
If you like treats like these strawberry penguins, make sure to check out these fun desserts too!
- Grinch charcuterie board – this dessert and fruit board looks just like the Grinch, one of the cutest Christmas treats!
- Blueberry hand pies – these super cute Christmas tree hand pies can be made in any shape you want!
- Pie crust cookies – cut these cookies in any shape you want using leftover pie crust scraps!
- Candy cane cookies – these delicious sugar cookies look like candy canes but taste way better!
- Reindeer cake – a chocolate chip cookie cake decorated to look like Santa’s reindeer, this one’s so cute!
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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Penguins
Ingredients
- 15 fresh strawberries
- 4 oz dark or milk chocolate chopped
- 30 candy eyeballs
- 30 round orange sprinkles
Instructions
- Begin by rinsing off the strawberries then let them dry completely.15 fresh strawberries
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, add the chopped chocolate. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in thirty-second increments, stirring between every increment.4 oz dark or milk chocolate
- Place a skewer into the strawberry where the stem is. Dip the dried strawberry diagonally into the melted chocolate so that the top is covered.
- Rotate the strawberry and dip the other diagonal. While the strawberry is in the chocolate rotate it to make sure the backside of the strawberry is fully covered while still leaving a triangle in the front for the penguin’s belly.
- While the chocolate is wet add the candy eyeballs just above the exposed part of the strawberry. Then add two round sprinkles just below the eyes but still above the exposed part of the penguin to make a beak.30 candy eyeballs, 30 round orange sprinkles
- Place the skewers wherever you’re going to let them dry, making sure to keep the skewers in an upright position. This will take 20 to 30 minutes for the chocolate to completely set if you leave them out and shorter time if you put them in the fridge.
- After the strawberries are finished setting they are ready to serve!
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