Chocolate Covered Cherries

These chocolate covered cherries are made with maraschino cherries, a creamy center and plenty of dark chocolate. A homemade version of the classic treat that's impossible to resist!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 2

Chill Time 40

Total Time 22

Servings

Calories 209kcal

Author Sara Welch

Ingredients

10 ounce jar maraschino cherries
4 tablespoons butter softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
16 ounces dark candy melts or chocolate chips if using chocolate chips, you will also need to add 2 teaspoons of shortening to the recipe during the chocolate melting process

Instructions

Drain the cherries, reserving 1/4 cup of the cherry juice.
Place the cherries on paper towels and pat to dry.
Place the powdered sugar, butter and 3 tablespoons of cherry juice in the bowl of a mixer; beat to combine until the mixture forms a dough.
If the mixture seems too wet or sticky, add 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar at a time until desired consistency is reached.
If mixture is too dry, add 1 teaspoon of cherry juice at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Take two teaspoons of the cherry dough and flatten it into a disc shape.
Place one cherry onto each disc and wrap the dough around the cherry to form a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, try coating your hands in cooking spray first.
Place the balls onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and freeze for 20 minutes.
While the balls are chilling, melt the candy melts by placing them in a microwave safe bowl and cooking them in the microwave for 30 second increments until melted.
Stir the candy melts until smooth.
Place one ball on a fork and use the fork to coat the ball in chocolate. Gently tap the fork against the side of the bowl to remove any excess chocolate.
Place each dipped ball onto a sheet of parchment paper. Repeat the process with the remaining balls and candy melts.
Place some of the melted candy in a resealable bag and snip off one corner of the bag to use as a piping bag.
Use the piping bag to drizzle melted chocolate over the tops of the dipped cherries.
Let the chocolate coating harden, then store the cherries at room temperature for up to one week.

Notes

After the cherries are wrapped in fondant, they need to be chilled so that they’re completely firm before they get dipped in chocolate. 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.

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