Chocolate-Dipped Heaven in Your Mouth

Oh. My. God. YUM. 

Labor-intensive but not difficult, and impressive-looking. My mouth is watering just writing this post. 

Chocolate-Dipped Cheesecake-Stuffed Strawberries
Adapted from Nutmeg Nanny 

Ingredients

• 1 pint of strawberries -- preferably at least 1 ounce in size
• 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (don't use imitation in this recipe)
• 12 oz white chocolate (use a baking bar -- don't use white chocolate chips; they don't thin out enough for dipping)
• 2 oz semisweet chocolate (optional)

Directions

1. Place a baking sheet lined with wax paper in the freezer. Place a small pot filled with about half an inch to an inch of water on the stove to boil.
2. Hull: the strawberries: Cut off the top of each berry, discard, then take a pairing knife, and carefully hollow out the middle of the strawberry. Repeat with all strawberries.
3. Beat the cream cheese until smooth, at least 5 minutes. Check your pot of water. If it's boiling, turn it down to a simmer.
4. Slowly beat in the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla.
5. Fit a pastry bag with a small round tip, and fill the bag halfway with the cheesecake mixture.
6. Pipe the mixture into each strawberry, just until it creates a little mound on the top.
7. Chill the strawberries in the refrigerator.
8. Coarsely chop the baking bar, and place the chocolate in a CLEAN, DRY metal bowl that is slightly larger than your pot of water. Place the bowl over the water, and stir the chocolate until melted and smooth.
9. Pull out your strawberries, and the baking sheet from the freezer.
10. Dip each strawberry in the chocolate and place on the frozen baking pan to set.
11. OPTIONAL: Melt the semisweet chocolate in a bowl in the microwave by heating the chocolate on 50% power for 1 minute, then stirring, then 30 seconds on 50%, then stirring, continuing until chocolate is melted and smooth. Scrape the chocolate into a parchment paper cone, and snip a tiny piece off of the end. Drizzle the semisweet chocolate over all of the strawberries (if you don't have parchment paper, or don't know how to make a cone out of it, you can dip a spoon into the chocolate, and use that to drizzle the chocolate).