These chocolate covered strawberry penguins are a cute dessert treat to add to any dessert plate. They are a little more time consuming than your average chocolate covered strawberry but are totally worth the labor of love. I made these as a cute Valentine’s Day sweet treat idea but they can be used for so many different occasions, see some ideas at the end of this post.
I’m sharing everything you need and how to assemble these DIY chocolate covered strawberry penguins!
Supplies You’ll Need To Make These Chocolate Covered Strawberry Penguins
- Fresh Strawberries (of course!)
- Wooden skewers or long toothpicks
- Styrofoam – I often save styrofoam packaging for projects like these. You could skip this part. I thought it was easier to decorate them having them on a skewer
- Chocolate Melts – I used Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Melts. The chocolate melts nicely and the taste is so good!
- White Candy Melts for penguin tummies
- Candy eyeballs
- M&M minis – orange or yellow for the beaks
- Wax paper
- Plastic sandwich bag or piping bag to pipe the wings
Optional if you want to add earmuffs:
- Regular size M&M’s
- String licorice, sour sghetti or another string like candy
Directions to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberry Penguins
- Wash and pat strawberries dry
- Cut or pull the green leaves off the strawberries
- Put the skewer into the strawberry through the cut end
- Melt the chocolate according to package instructions. I find using a double boiler or makeshift double boiler (glass bowl on top of a pan) works best as the chocolate stays melty longer if you keep the bowl over the pan.
- Dip the strawberries into the chocolate one by one. Pro tip for smoother chocolate covered strawberries: once the strawberry is covered in chocolate, tap the skewer on the side of the bowl allowing the chocolate on the berry to drip off and the chocolate to smooth out.
- Place the non strawberry end of the skewer into styrofoam so the chocolate can harden. Or place the strawberry cut side down on wax paper or in a cupcake liner.
- Allow the chocolate to harden.
- Meanwhile, use the excess melted chocolate to create wings for your penguins. This is totally extra and optional but I am often extra so here we are. Poor melted chocolate into a Ziplock bag, snip the corner and use this to pipe tear drop shaped wings onto a piece of wax paper.
- The wings should harden at room temp but you could also speed the process by putting them in the freezer. Definitely transfer them with a plate or cutting board underneath or they can slip off the wax paper. Ask me how I know 🙂
- If you’re adding a heart to the penguin bellies, take a white candy melt and either add a bit of melted chocolate to the center or melt the top with a hot spoon. You just need enough melted chocolate on the top for the heart to stick. Add the hearts and allow to cool and harden
- Now you’re ready to assemble your penguins!
Chocolate Covered Penguin Assembly
- Pipe melted chocolate where the eyes and beak will go then add the eyeballs and sideways mini orange M&M for the beak
- Again using melted chocolate as glue, add the penguin belly and wings
Adding Earmuffs to the Penguins
- Pipe a line of melted chocolate over the top of the penguins head and attach the string candy and hold in place until set
- Add muffs to each ear using regular sized M&M’s and more melted chocolate “glue”
- Once everything is set and cooled, place them in muffin liners and they are ready to party!
Serving Ideas for Chocolate Covered Strawberry Penguins:
I added mine to a plate of chocolate covered strawberries but you could add them to any dessert tray, maybe a chocolate board. You could top cupcakes or cakes with them – think penguin in the snow! The options are endless!
Here are some ideas of where you could serve these cute dessert treats:
- Arctic party dessert idea
- Winter themed party dessert idea
- Penguin themed party dessert idea
- Classroom treat idea – kids will love these cute treats!
- Christmas dessert treat
- Valentine Party dessert idea
My kids freaked over how cute these penguins were and chocolate covered strawberries are one of their favorite sweet treats. Bonus, this dessert includes fruit! I’d love to see how yours turn out, send a picture or tag us on social media so I can see!
