Chocolate covered cherries are one of my all time favorite candies, along with rum balls, rocky road fudge and peppermint patties. These dessert recipes make great holiday gifts, party favors, or a snack to satisfy any chocolate craving. These cherries are also perfect for Valentine’s Day along with a homemade heart cake! My favorite candy store is See’s candy. And every time I go in there, I order chocolate covered cherries, they’re my all time favorite candy. This homemade version is actually easier to make than it looks, and they are SO delicious.
Chocolate Covered Cherries Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need maraschino cherries, butter, powdered sugar, and dark chocolate chips or candy melts.
How Do You Make Chocolate Covered Cherries?
Drain the cherries, and reserve some of the cherry juice. Pat the cherries dry with a paper towel. Place the butter, powdered sugar and some of the cherry juice in a large bowl. Use a mixer to beat everything together until a dough forms. Cover the bowl, and refrigerate the fondant mixture. Take teaspoons of the fondant and flatten it into a discs. Place a cherry onto each disc, then wrap the fondant around the cherries to form balls. Freeze the balls until they are firm. Melt the chocolate chips or candy melts in the microwave. If you use chocolate chips, you’ll want to add a little shortening to thin the melted chocolate. Dip each cherry ball into the chocolate, then place on a sheet of parchment paper or waxed paper. After you dip all the balls, drizzle a little melted chocolate on top of each one. Let the cherries sit until the chocolate is firm, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Dessert
It’s important to make sure the maraschino cherries are completely dry before you wrap them in fondant, otherwise the fondant will not stick. This dough can be a little sticky to work with. I recommend either coating your hands in cooking spray, or adding a little bit of powdered sugar to your work surface so that the dough doesn’t adhere to your hands or work space. After you wrap the cherries in fondant, make sure to chill them. Otherwise, your cherries might start to melt and lose their round shape. I use Ghirardelli Dark Melting Wafers to dip my cherries in. They melt beautifully, are really easy to work with, and create a shiny thin shell on the cherries. You can also use chocolate chips or another brand of candy melts, but you’ll likely have to add some shortening to thin the chocolate before you start dipping. Store the cherries at room temperature after dipping so that the centers stay soft. The centers will never fully liquefy, but they’ll be rich, creamy and delicious regardless.
Flavor Variations
This recipe is delicious as-is, but you can customize some of the ingredients to suit your tastes.
Chocolate: You can dip your cherries in milk chocolate chips or white chocolate if you prefer. Cherries: While I typically use good old fashioned bright red maraschino cherries for this recipe, you can also use luxardo cherries or Italian amarena cherries, which come in sugar syrup. Liquor: You can make alcoholic treats by soaking your cherries in brandy, cherry vodka or rum. Let them sit in the liquor for 24 hours, then pat dry and proceed with the recipe.
I love to package these chocolate covered cherries in little gift boxes around the holidays to give to family, friends and teachers. No one can believe that we made them ourselves, and I have to say, I think the homemade version is SO much better than store bought.
