Julie Clark
Posted: Updated:
Chocolate Covered Cherries
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
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.
Other Cherry Dessert Recipes
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
I should have added this question also. Could I use semi sweet morsels like in chocolate chip cookies
Could I just dip the cherries in chocolate without the powered sugar middle
I’m just now making this recipe for my Mom, but with an ingredient alteration to make it diabetic-friendly. Instead of powdered sugar, I’m using powdered erythritol, as both my Mom and I cannot STAND artificial sweeteners. So far so good, but we’ll see if the sweet center turns to liquid over time. I’ll set myself a reminder to let you know the outcome. I also used the darkest chocolate I could find, with the least amount of sugar in it, because the taste of unsweetened chocolate definitely tastes a little time to adjust to. Still, dark chocolate, cherry cordials were… Read more »
Why does it develop a bloom after a couple of weeks?
Please help! I tried this with my sour cherries like I wrote you about they looked pretty good however, when I picked them up off the waxed paper you could see spots of fondant! If the fondant turns luquidy that won’t be good! First of all what did I do wrong and how can I fix it? Do I need to redip the bottoms or can I paint some chocolate over the bottoms? I made these for my husband for our anniversary this Saturday and I want them to be good.Also with the left over chocolate I dipped some homemade… Read more »
Have you or anyone you know of tried using sour cherries in this recipe? My cherry tree produced abundantly this year so I made a lot of different cherry liqueurs. I hate to think about wasting all those cherries when they come out of the liquor. Do you think it will work?
I am really interested in trying this recipe! Thank you! I do have one question. I will be making treats for my significant other who has a dairy-allergy. So, with butter out of the equation (I have good DF melting chocolate) what would you suggest to use when creating the fondant? I am afraid to use shortening as I would for frosting because I actually want the inside of the cordial to be a bit melty/messy as it mixes with the juices. I was thinking of maybe following a marshmallow fondant recipe but I wanted to ask your advice first.… Read more »
I have made these several times and everyone loves them!
How long can you keep these for? My mom used to make a version similar to these and we kept them upstairs (cooler and out of easy reach) to let the centers get liquid. It used to seem like we had to wait for weeks, but I know my timing is off since this was when I was quite a bit younger.
I am making them as we speak but my cherries are soked in liquor (naughty I know 😉 I hope this is gonna work.
My family loves chocolate covered cherries and I hate when I can’t read ingredients. I am thrilled to have found this recipe, this will too their stockings this year. Thank you so much for sharing.
These look amazing! How long would you estimate these are good, stored at room temperature?
Must they sit at room temp for the centers to liquefy ?
My mother-in-law LOVES chocolate covered cherries, so my husband asked if I could make her homemade cherries for Xmas. I plan on making these with my nephew this Sunday. They look amazing and can’t wait for her to try them. Thank you for sharing your recipe. 🙂
Do these freeze nicely? My mother loves these so I’m making them with my daughter for Christmas. I want to make them early because of how busy we are this season.
Thank you 🙂