Ok, I confess, it took a few batches to get this recipe “just right,” which for me means a couple of things.
First, I had to get these babies to to look decent, edible, desirable even. Let’s just say my first attempts were rather inept. I tried to make a rich and gooey sauce with cherries and then dip this cherry goo into melted chocolate. So Mensa of me –as you can imagine, the result did not look entirely appetizing. And I think candy should look appetizing. Very appetizing.
For my second attempt, I dropped globs of cherries and their sauce onto a parchment lined baking dish and then dripped chocolate over them. I did not exactly achieve a professional outcome utilizing this method.
My later attempts unfolded this afternoon, as my younger son and I had a pre-Valentine’s day candy making extravaganza. While my older son lay on the couch reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid
, my little guy and I melted chocolate and put it on everything we could think of. Lots of fun.
In search of perfection, I made another batch of candied cherries and during the process, recalled that I actually own candy making molds. Happily, I took them down from the far corner cabinet of the kitchen and found the appropriate mold for making chocolate covered cherries. It looks like this.
When I finished up my fourth batch of cherries and gave my son a taste, he said, “Mom, these taste just like the ones from the store.” I was happy, though slightly surprised that he had eaten those disgustingly sweet super duper artificial sugar infused chocolate covered store bought cherries. Oh well, what can you do? At least (according to him) I had achieved parity with “store bought,” which to me means success.
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So, on to the recipe. Beware, these are pretty darn sweet. If you want to experiment with something more adult-like and less cloying in nature, you could try cutting back on the agave, adding some stevia and maybe some liqueur, or orange (or lemon) zest for extra flavor.
I haven’t tried this myself (as you can see, I was quite busy just figuring out this recipe), so feel free to carry out your own trial and error process. Just be sure to leave a comment and let us know the results!
Chocolate Covered Cherries
Ingredients
- 1 10 ounce package frozen cherries
- ½ cup agave nectar or honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, heat cherries, agave, vanilla and almond extract to a simmer
- Combine arrowroot and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl to form a paste
- Raise heat a bit and stir the arrowroot paste into the cherry mixture
- Stir for about 1 minute until mixture thickens, scraping bottom of the pan with spoon, to evenly distribute the arrowroot, which can tend to settle on the bottom of the pan
- Remove cherry mixture from heat and set aside
- Melt chocolate in a small saucepan over very low heat
- Spoon scant 1 teaspoon of the melted chocolate into each of the candy molds
- Spoon one cherry (with some of the sauce) on top of the chocolate
- Cover with another scant teaspoon of chocolate
- Place in refrigerator to set, about 20-30 minutes
- Remove from refrigerator, pop candy out of molds
- Serve
Equipment
This is a photo of the first scant teaspoon of melted chocolate in the candy mold.
The cherries and their sauce have been spooned into the mold and here I am spooning the second scant teaspoon of melted chocolate over the cherry mixture (while snapping a photo) pretty pro, eh?
I cleaned the kitchen (there was chocolate everywhere) while I waited for the chocolates to set in the refrigerator. This is how it looked straight out of the fridge. It was kinda challenging to get the chocolate out of the molds. I had to really bend and work the mold to force the chocolate out.
It was well worth the work. These chocolate covered cherries are delicious. I plan on making them with milk chocolate or white chocolate for my boys on Valentine’s Day.
Enjoy!
Kay says
Hi Elana,
I wish you lived next door to me! I have FOUR GALLON BAGS of lovingly pitted cherries in my freezer. Sadly, cherries are on my allergic list now. I bet you could put them to good use!
Your chocolates are beautiful!
elana says
Celiacchick -Thanks. So great to hear from you and hope you are doing well :-)
Mandy -You are very welcome!
mandy says
Elena,
These look sooo good! I’m going to take a look at the fudge recipe (since I don’t eat sugar at all), but I’m also going to hunt down some *healthy* sugar free chocolate so hopefully I can make these!
Thanks for all your efforts to make it easier for the rest of us :)
CeliacChick says
Uh, what can I say other than, YOU ROCK! I never knew it could be so easy (well, relatively speaking) to make such professionally made looking candies! Fun, fun!
Oh, and I haven’t been able to eat candies like these due to the corn syrup, blech, for years. I bet yours taste better too!
elana says
Tracey -Thanks for your suggestions. I think I accidently tempered one of my batches (it turned out really well) and love the idea of tempering from now on –I will do that!
mutritious nuffins -Thanks! I hope your dad and brother enjoy them and yes, hanging in the kitchen with children is the best :-)
Sophie -Thanks for your comment! It took a couple of tries though was well worth it.
Emily -Thanks for the kudos! I haven’t seen dark chocolate that is sweetened with agave nectar, though I do have a fun homemade chocolate fudge recipe using agave if you have a hunkering for making your own chocolate. I’m a bit of a grinch when it comes to what I consider “Hallmark” holidays. I don’t make any plans other than baking :-)
Shirley -Thanks, your comments are so nice! I hope you and your husband have a great Valentines Day!
VeggieGirl -Thanks!
Hayley -Thanks and hope you enjoy them.
Brenda -You’re most welcome. Thanks for your comment.
Dani -Yes, it was fun to use a frozen treat that is such a delicacy during winter, The frozen cherries worked out great.
Chris -If the Double Chocolate Mocha Cookies are greasy and runny it just means that you need to add a little more almond flour –try 1/4 cup and they should work out well. There is a whole issue with using cup measurements in recipes — true bakers often weigh their ingredients. That is way too FUSSY for me and for the people who frequent this blog. I think the problem when these recipes are turning out runny is either a) Bob’s Red Mill almond flour was used which just doesn’t work at all in these recipes; or b) I scoop my flour into a measuring cup (which makes it more packed and more flour in the cup) if you are pouring your flour then you would get about 2 ounces less per cup, not a big deal it would seem, however, if a recipe has 2 cups or more in it, then we would have a discrepancy of close to 1/4 cup. I’m sorry this is so complicated and I hope it helps. Please let me know how it goes if you try them again. I really want to work with you to fix this :-)
Kelly -You’re so funny! No, I haven’t been to Belvedere, what/where is it?
AmyRuth -Thank you for the comments about my site design, I’m glad you like it and thanks for stopping by, I hope you’ll be back for more!
Samantha -Candy molds can be a challenge, though I think they are well worth it when you finally get the hoped for results. Let me know how they turned out if you make ’em.
Katchmo -Thanks for your comment and hope you like them!
Sarah -I hope the two of you enjoy them :-)
Sarah says
Oh, yay! My husband loves chocolate covered cherries! I’ll have to try this soon, maybe for valentines:)
Katchmo says
These are definitely on the menu this weekend! Thanks!
Samantha says
These look absolutely wonderful and well worth a try! Candy molds can be a huge pain…and tempering isn’t the most fun task either. But with results like that I think it’d be worth it! Will certainly be giving them a shot now that I’ve finally found agave on this teeny little island.
AmyRuth says
I love your “crisp” blog. This is my first visit and I find the uncluttered nature of your page very easy and relaxing, not so frenzied with ads and whatnot. Your content is in focus.
I love chocolate candy, and yours are really pretty. That must mean you have great photos! duh? I look forward to reading more.
Thanks
AmyRuth
Kelly says
Oh my gosh! I just had to call my husband over and show him these pictures! Wow! You are amazing! I really want a mold now – chocolate covered cherries are my favorite! I don’t think I’ve had them in years though! I’m pretty sure I’ve asked you this before, but do you ever go to Belvedere? I love their vegan chocolate :-) The big chain chocolate stores look at me like I have two heads when I ask them if they have any dairy-free chocolate, as if chocolate comes from a cow ;-) LOL