Homemade Chocolate Covered Cherries

Old-fashioned Chocolate Covered Cherries (or cherry cordials) are quick and easy to make, and always a favorite for Christmas, Valentine's Day, or any sweet occasion.

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• What's the Story on this Recipe?
• Chocolate Covered Cherries Ingredients
• How to Dip Chocolate Covered Cherries
• Storage
• Equipment
• Top Tip
• FAQ
• More Holiday Treats
• Chocolate Covered Cherries

What's the Story on this Recipe?

For decades, it was my tradition to give my girls' Grandma Edith a red and gold box of chocolate covered cherries for Christmas. She loved them, and over the years, it became kind of our thing.

Sadly, the first time I made homemade chocolate covered cherries was for Edith's memorial gathering. I don't know why I'd never tried to make them before; maybe it was just too easy to pick them up at the drugstore. But for her memorial, I wanted to do something - anything - to honor her memory. She died between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and at the time, chocolate covered cherries seemed the best tribute I could offer.

That's when I realized just how easy these sweet little chocolate cherry bombs are to make, and how much better they taste from those you buy at the store. Now each year as I make them, I remember Edith and all the good times we shared.

Make a Sweet Memory

Homemade chocolate covered cherries make sweet holiday memories, and candy dipping is so easy to do! Not only that, but hand-dipped, homemade candies make a welcomed gift, too. You can make a batch of cherries in an afternoon and start a Christmas, Valentines, or birthday tradition of your own!

Chocolate Covered Cherries Ingredients

★ Maraschino cherries: Standard maraschino cherries are a light-colored cherry (like a Royal Ann) that is preserved by first brining in a bleaching solution, and then soaking in a sugared food coloring suspension.

Use pre-pitted maraschino cherries. If you want to dip them with the stems attached, you will need to buy stemmed cherries. Otherwise, any maraschino cherries will do.

Option: Avoid red-dye issues and other unhealthy additives by using dye-free marachino cherries. Luxardo brand cherries are one good option: they are gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, preservative-free, red-dye-free, and kosher! Luxardo maraschino cherries, made from sour marasca cherries, are candied fresh, steeped in a simple syrup of cherry juice and sugar.

The only drawback to the Lux cherries is the price tag: they run three or four times as much as the neon-red cherries you may be more familiar with.

★ Chocolate: You can use semi-sweet chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or a combination of any of the three.

The most important thing when choosing chocolate for dipping is to use high quality chocolate, which tends to melt more smoothly than cheap chocolate. We like to use a combination of dark Ghirardelli Melts and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Use chocolate melting wafers, chocolate chips, or large bar chocolate.

If you have a local cake or candy shop and plan to dip a lot of chocolates, you may be able to purchase dipping chocolate in bulk for a better price.

You can also use non-chocolate candy melts, which you can find in a variety of colors. Do not use mini chocolate chips.

★ Powdered sugar: Once you have measured the sugar, sift it to make airy. This is optional, but it will make the fondant easier to mix.

★ Butter: Butter should be softened so that a finger easily pushes into it, like butter left out on a warm summer day. If you keep your house cooler in the winter, you may need to microwave it at 50% for a minute or two.

★ Corn syrup: Use light corn syrup, not dark.

★ Oil: We prefer to use coconut oil, but any oil will work: it helps stabilize the chocolate so it isn't as inclined to break.

Invertase: Some chocolate covered cherry recipes insist that you need to use an enzyme called invertase in your fondant or your centers will not liquify. This is not our experience, and our recipe does not call for it.

You can definitely speed up the liquefaction process by adding invertase, or soaking the cherries in liquor, but neither is necessary. Using this recipe, the centers will liquify by themselves in about two weeks.

How to Dip Chocolate Covered Cherries

You can (and should) make chocolate covered cherries at least two weeks, and up to four weeks, before you intend to eat them. This will allow the fondant to break down and liquify into a smooth syrup inside the chocolate coating.

Prep the Cherries

Decide whether you want to leave the stems on, or take them off. It is totally up to you.

Leaving the stems on makes dipping easier; however, we prefer to remove them and use the toothpick method for dipping them. This seals the cherry into the chocolate more thoroughly, and gives them a cleaner appearance.

Dry the cherries thoroughly on paper towels before wrapping in fondant.

For Cherry Cordials

To make cherry cordials, the cherries must first be soaked in some kind of liquor. (Cordial is synonymous with liqueur.) To do this, first drain the cherries in a colander, and then soak them in brandy or rum for up to 24 hours.

As far as I'm concerned, this soaking step is totally optional: these homemade chocolate covered cherries taste fabulous with or without the boozy bump.

Dry the soaked cherries thoroughly on paper towels before wrapping in fondant.

Mix the Fondant

Combine butter and corn syrup in a medium bowl, mixing with your hands until smooth. Sift in confectioners' sugar and knead to form a soft dough.

You can do this step using a mixer, but I find it so much easier to just do it by hand.

The fondant is ready when it is smooth, supple, and about the same consistency as new Play-Doh. 

Chill fondant in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. 

Cover the Cherries

Wrap each cherry in about 1½ teaspoons of dough.

• A. Roll the dough into a small log, about the same size around as your index finger.
• B. Flatten the log.
• C. Place a cherry in the center.
• D. Roll the log around the cherry, pinching the ends together.

Once the cherry is generally covered, roll it around a few times in your palm to smooth it all out and form a ball. The fondant should be consistently the same thickness over the surface of the cherry.

Line the fondant-covered cherries on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill until firm; about 30 minutes.

Do not chill for more than 2 hours, or the cherries will begin to break down the fondant and it will get too soft.

Melt the Chocolate

While the prepared cherries are chilling, heat the chocolate and a teaspoon of shortening or coconut oil in medium double boiler over low heat, or in a fondue pot on low. Stir almost constantly until smooth.

Melting wafers and dipping chocolate have oil added to help temper them, making the coating they form on dipped candies firm and dry at room temperature. If you use straight semi-sweet chocolate chips, add 1 tablespoon of oil or coconut oil for each cup of chips to avoid sticky dipped chocolates.

Do not rush the chocolate melting process. Do not allow even one drop of water to get into the chocolate.

Dip the Cherries

There are any number of methods for dipping the cherries. If you like to leave the stems on, dipping is a total no-brainer.

We like to make ours stem-free, and after much experimenting, this is the one that works best for us. If you have another method that works for you, use it!

Dip one cherry at a time.

Once the chocolate is fully melted and the fondant-covered cherries are firmly chilled, drop one cherry into the chocolate.

Use a toothpick to pick the cherry up out of the chocolate, and give it a gentle tap to allow any extra chocolate to fall back into the melted mix.

Use a second toothpick the push the cherry off the toothpick and onto the parchment.

Immediately dip a toothpick into the chocolate and cover the small hole at the top made by the toothpick.

Repeat the process until all the cherries have been dipped. Allow them to rest on the baking sheet until firm.

Keep the chocolate warm: you will be using it again in a few minutes.

When the chocolate covered cherries have firmed up, pick each one up off the parchment. The underside chocolate layer will be very thin, and needs to be built up to hold the center as the fondant breaks down into liquid over time. If you skip this step, your cherries may leak.

Holding the top of the cherry gently with two fingers, gently dip it into the chocolate again, barely touching the bottom the cherry to the melted chocolate, so that there is a second layer coating the underside of the candy.

Place the coated cherries back on the parchment as you dip the undersides. The cherries can also placed into paper candy cups at this time.

Because these are dipped chocolates, you will have a significant amount of chocolate leftover when you are done dipping the cherries.

Storage

Chocolate covered cherries will last at least a month or more if stored in a cool, dry place. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature.

Do not freeze chocolate covered cherries. Their high moisture content will expand and pop the chocolate casing.

Equipment

Even chocolate designed for candy dipping can be tricky if you heat it too fast, or the temperature fluctuates too much. A double boiler or bain marie is the most common method for melting chocolate, but last year I bought an electric fondue pot and now I use it for all my chocolate prep. It has an adjustable temperature control that takes all the stress out of melting chocolate, and I'll never go back!

The specific fondue pot I purchased (Cuisanart) has a very low setting that keeps the chocolate at a consistent temperature, with no threat of errant water drops escaping and breaking my chocolate.

Top Tip

With the introduction of just one drop of water, chocolate can go from smooth and luxurious to thick and clumpy in seconds. This is known as seizing. Seized chocolate can often be fixed, but the best thing to do is avoid the problem altogether.

For silky smooth dipping chocolate, first make sure everything that touches the chocolate is as dry as possible. This includes hands, bowls, utensils, and anything else it comes in contact with. Do not use wooden utensils, as they can retain water.

Seized chocolate also occurs when you melt the chocolate at too high a temperature. For the best outcomes, melt chocolate low and slow, and be patient.

FAQ

More Holiday Treats

Check our Bavarian Mints and Peanut Butter Balls recipes for more homemade candy dipping tips and ideas.

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