Julie Clark
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Chocolate Covered Cherries
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If you love Chocolate Covered Cherries, you’ll love this Amish recipe. My husband, a long-time lover of chocolate covered cherries, says these are the best!
Calling all cherry lovers! We’re crazy for cherries, whether they are in cherry sweet bread, cherry layer cake or even a cherry jello salad, we’re all in.
But what is Matt’s favorite? Chocolate Covered Cherries. He often gets boxes of them as gifts during the holiday season, but I needed to tackle making chocolate covered cherries for him at home.
Cherries Dipped in Chocolate
As much as I love baking, I love making chocolate dipped candies just as much. If I had the choice between a sugar cookie or a chocolate covered buckeye, I’ll choose homemade candy 100% of the time.
This recipe is for Amish Chocolate Covered Cherries from my favorite Amish cookbook that has been with me since before I got married. Here’s what I learned.
Are chocolate covered cherries and cherry cordials the same thing?
Yes! Chocolate covered cherries are often called cherry cordials. It’s the same chocolate cherry candy. Consider these the best cherry cordials out there, perfect for special occasions or Christmas cookie gift boxes.
Ingredients Needed
For chocolate covered cherries, all you need is maraschino cherries, powdered sugar (also called confectioners’ sugar), salted butter and chocolate for dipping. 4 pantry staples.
Before you begin.
Here are a few tips to remember.
- We show chocolate covered maraschino cherries with stems, which make it easy for dipping, but cherries without stems work just fine too. I like the look of stems though!
- Some maraschino cherries do not have red color added (such as in the Aldi brand). It’s completely fine to use these, but they won’t have the pretty pink color the cherries with red food color do.
- This can be a messy process! Embrace the mess. They are worth it. 😋
- Use salted butter. The salt cuts down on the sweetness just slightly. If you don’t have salted butter you can use unsalted butter and add a dash of salt.
- Use whatever type of chocolate you’d like: semi-sweet, milk chocolate or dark chocolate. We love a combination of semi-sweet and dark chocolate. Whatever you choose, use a high quality chocolate so that it melts smoothly. I recommend Ghirardelli chocolate melting wafers or large chocolate bars. Chocolate chips like to keep their shape and often don’t melt smoothly.
How to Make Chocolate Covered Cherries
- Drain the cherry juice from the cherries, but reserve ¼ cup of maraschino cherry juice for the sugar mixture. Then place the drained cherries on an absorbent paper towel so the extra juice gets soaked up. The cherries need to be dry before you cover them in sugar so it sticks.
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer (or stand mixer) to mix 3 cups powdered sugar, butter and ¼ cup cherry juice together. Add in the last cup of powdered sugar, ¼ of a cup at a time, until the mixture forms a soft dough. You may not need all of it. Refrigerate the sugar mixture for 20 minutes.
- Below you can see pictures of how exactly we shaped the filling. Have a little pile of powdered sugar on the counter or in a bowl because the sugar mixture might be a little sticky. Roll 1-inch balls with the sugar mixture.
- If the ball is too sticky, roll it lightly in the powdered sugar, then flatten the ball between the palms of your hands. Take a cherry that has been drained and dried and place it in the center of the disc. Wrap the sugar mixture around the cherry mixture and roll it into a ball. Refrigerate the cherries for 20 minutes and then they’re ready to dip in that melty chocolate!
- Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring between each interval. Melt it slowly so the chocolate doesn’t burn and seize up.
- Dip these cherries in melted chocolate and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet to set.
Storage Instructions
If you like a liquid center to your candy, let these sit in an airtight container for 3-6 days before eating. As they sit, the centers will liquify into gooey goodness.
Chocolate covered cherries store well at room temperature in an airtight container. We’ve stored the cherries in a cool, dry place for up to 8 weeks and they are still delicious. The fridge works if you have space.
Can chocolate covered cherries be frozen?
We don’t recommend freezing chocolate covered cherries because they can expand and break the chocolate. This will give you a sweet mess once they are defrosted.
They may not always break (and honestly Matt LOVES frozen chocolate covered cherries), but for the best look and the best results, don’t store them in the freezer.
Chocolate Covered Cherries
If you love Chocolate Covered Cherries, you'll love this Amish recipe. My husband, a long-time lover of chocolate covered cherries, says these are the best!
Servings 25 servings
Prep Time 30 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 jar maraschino cherries with stems (16 ounces or about 25 cherries, with the juice reserved)
- 4 cups powdered sugar 390-520 grams, divided
- 4 tablespoons salted butter (softened)
- 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate or a mix of semi-sweet and dark chocolate
Optional
- red candy melting wafers for drizzling
Instructions
- Drain the cherries, reserving at least ¼ cup of the juice. Place the cherries on a paper towel to absorb extra juice, then dab them dry. The cherries need to be dry so they hold together well. 1 jar maraschino cherries with stems
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to mix 3 cups powdered sugar, butter and ¼ cup cherry juice together. Add in the last cup of powdered sugar, ¼ of a cup at a time, until the mixture forms a soft dough. You may not need all of it. Refrigerate the sugar mixture for 20 minutes. 4 cups powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons salted butter
- Dust you hands with powdered sugar so the sugar mixture doesn't stick to them. Roll into 1 1/2-inch balls. Flatten the dough balls between the palms of your hands, dusting your hands with powdered sugar if necessary. Fold the dough over the dried cherry to completely cover it, then roll it into smooth ball again.
- Refrigerate the covered cherries for 20 minutes. Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring between each interval. Melt it slowly so the chocolate doesn't burn and seize up. 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- Holding the cherry by the stem, dip it in the melted chocolate and allow the excess to drip off. Place the chocolate covered cherry on a baking pan that has been covered with wax paper or parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining cherries.
- If desired, melt red candy wafers (or any other color) and drizzle the cherries. This can help hide any imperfections in the chocolate from dipping.
- Allow the chocolate to set completely before storing the cherries in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
- You can use maraschino cherries without stems if you’d like. Use a fork to dip them in the chocolate, tapping off the excess chocolate.
- Be sure to melt the chocolate slowly or over low heat. If chocolate gets too hot, it will seize up and become unusable. If using a double boiler, allow the water in the bottom pan to steam, but not come to a full boil. Add the chocolate top the top pan and stir constantly until the chocolate is melted.
- If the chocolate is too thick for dipping, add a tablespoon or two of shortening or coconut oil to the warm chocolate and stir until it is melted. This will thin the chocolate slightly.
Nutrition
Serving: 51g | Calories: 206kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 17mg | Potassium: 105mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 68IU | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg
Delicious recipe, love the results and the brilliant colours!
I just finished making these, and I didn’t realize how huge they would be! Looking back at your pictures, I can see now that they are much bigger than the cherries they are next to. Also, I had to use a lot more powdered sugar in the mixture. It was just TOO sticky. I probably used at least another cups worth. Other than that, they look amazing and I can’t wait to give them away for Christmas presents!
Love the cherries, very easy and DELISH!
Just made these! My 3 year old helped, and we both love the recipe. Thanks for sharing it.
Do these need to be refridgerated?
Did you dip the cherries into sugar before rolling the dough around them? There’s no mention of this in the guide but the pics make it look as so.
I have been looking for a good recipe for chocolate covered cherries.. these are beautiful! Nice job!
Wow! Those are gorgeous! I love that filling wrapped around the cherries too!
These are so cute! I don’t have much experience making candy but these are hard to resist 🙂
dad goes crasy for these!
Thank you, Britni! They’re one of our Christmas favorites, too!
I just made these and they’re delicious…not as pretty as yours, but I’ll work on that next time…what is the red that is drizzled over yours…
These look amazing! Chocolate covered cherries were my grandmothers favorite. I think my mother would love some of these as a nice surprise and sweet reminder. Thanks for sharing~
What an awesome idea to wrap them first. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Pinned 🙂
These look amazing! I cannot believe I’ve never made these. That’s going to have to change – thanks for sharing.