Chocolate Covered Cherries

Scrumptious homemade Chocolate Covered Cherries are a cinch to make with just a handful of ingredients.  They always look so incredibly beautiful on my holiday candy and cookie trays.

I love to drizzle them with different kinds of chocolate for an even more dramatic flair.  I love to delight my friends and family and make a batch for Christmas Eve.  They look gorgeous on my holiday trays with Peanut Clusters, Buckeye Balls, Snowball Cookies and Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies.

Why this recipe works

• With only six ingredients these gorgeous candies come together easily without any fancy tools.  Just a little mixing, rolling, dunking and drizzling to create these beauties.
• These scrumptious treats are so much better than the store bought brands with fresh ingredients and good quality products.
• All the ingredients for this yummy recipe are easily found at your local grocery store.  In fact you might already have some of the ingredients already on hand.

How to make Chocolate Covered Cherries

Start by drying your cherries real well.  I get them out of the jar and lay them on paper towels.  Then I dab them with extra paper towels and let them sit while I work the rest of the recipe.

Now using a stand mixer or a hand mixer combine the butter, powdered sugar, and the maraschino cherry juice.  Then add the last cup of powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture pulls away from the side and forms a soft ball.  Refrigerate the fondant mixture for 30 minutes.  Then roll into a little less than 1 inch balls and flatten with the palms of your hands.  Now add a cherry to the center pulling up the fondant around the cherry.  Next roll it into a smooth ball and place on a parchment covered rimmed baking sheet.  Continue until all the fondant is rolled up around the cherries placing them about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet. Then freeze for 30 minutes uncovered.

Next melt the chocolate for dipping the cherries.  I add just a little bit of coconut oil or shortening to thin it out.  Then I use a fork to carefully dip the cherries in the chocolate.  Gently sliding them off the fork with a table knife.  Let them sit until the chocolate sets.  If desired melt white chocolate and drizzle over the cherries.  For an over the top presentation melt some dark chocolate and drizzle over the cherries too!

Recipe notes and tips for Chocolate Covered Cherries

• Thoroughly dry the cherries so the fondant batter sticks to them.
• You can use stemmed maraschino cherries or maraschino cherries that have the stems removed.  I have always found it so much easier to work with the ones without stems as it is so much easier to roll the powdered sugar mixture around them.  However that said you can dip the stemmed ones in the melted chocolate using the stem.
• When rolling the fondant around the cherries lightly dust your hands with powdered sugar.
• Don’t skip the chilling periods as fondant is so much easier to roll after being chilled and the balls are much easier to dunk in melted chocolate when frozen.
• Store the cherries in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 8 weeks.

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