Chocolate Covered Candied Cherries
Submitted by ellie
Handmade chocolate-covered cherries soaked overnight in kirsch brandy, then wrapped in a rich truffle mixture of milk and unsweetened chocolate. Rolled in a cocoa-powdered sugar coating for an elegant homemade confection.
YIELD
1 batchPREP
30 minCOOK
15 minREADY
2 hrsThese aren’t the waxy, syrupy chocolate cherries from the drugstore checkout aisle. These are the real deal.
Candied cherries steep overnight in kirsch, soaking up boozy cherry brandy flavor from the inside out. Then each one gets hand-wrapped in a lush truffle mixture of melted milk chocolate and unsweetened chocolate blended with butter and powdered sugar, spiked with the reserved brandy.
Rolled in a cocoa and powdered sugar coating, they look like something from a Parisian chocolatier’s display case. The kind of handmade gift that makes people feel genuinely special.
Chef Tips
- Soak the cherries for at least 24 hours, but longer is better. Two or three days in the brandy deepens the flavor dramatically.
- Work in batches from the freezer. The truffle mixture softens quickly from the heat of your hands, so chill it hard, shape a few, then return it to the freezer while you roll the finished ones in coating.
- Dust your fingers generously in the cocoa-sugar mixture before handling the chocolate. It prevents sticking and keeps the balls smooth.
- Store in the fridge for up to two weeks. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving so the truffle coating softens just slightly.
Variations
- Swap kirsch for dark rum or Grand Marnier for a different flavor profile.
- Use all semisweet chocolate instead of the milk-unsweetened blend for easier handling and a sweeter result.
- Try wrapping candied orange peel or dried apricots instead of cherries.
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the cherries in the brandy overnight or longer.
Drain cherries, reserve the brandy.
Cream butter and sugar with a mixer.
In a double boiler, melt the chocolates.
Spoon the melted chocolate, spoon by spoon, into the butter and sugar mixture and mix thoroughly by hand.
Add reserved brandy to sugar and chocolate mixture and stir in my hand until all is absorbed.
Add 3 tablespoon cocoa and mix by hand.
Put mixture in a clean bowl and thoroughly chill in the freezer.
Meanwhile, make a 50 to 50 mixture of powdered sugar and cocoa.
Begin with ⅓ cup EACH and mix thoroughly. Heavily dust a sheet of waxed paper on a working surface.
When the chocolate mixture is chilled and very stiff, remove from the freezer.
Drop by teaspoonfuls on dusted working surface and dust your fingers in the sugar/cocoa mixture, press with fingers to make a small flat shape with the chocolate.
Drop a cherry in the center and form a ball around the cherry.
Working quickly, complete the shape by rolling the ball between your palms.
Roll ball in sugar/cocoa mixture to coat.
Continue working until the chocolate mixture is too soft to continue.
Return to freezer to chill some more and continue until all the chocolate and cherries are gone.
The chocolate covered cherries can be stored in the frig.
For a lighter, sweeter chocolate taste, increase the sweet chocolate and decrease or eliminate the unsweetened chocolate.
The more milk chocolate you use, the more diffucult it will be to work with as it melts rather rapidly.
You can also substitute and equal portion of semi-sweet bits (toll house chocolates) for the chocolate.
Other candied fruit and liquors can be used according to your taste.
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