These chocolate covered cherries are an easy homemade candy made with maraschino cherries covered in chocolate. Biting into the liquid center of a cordial cherry is heavenly!
Easy Cherry Cordials
Chocolate covered cherries are a long time favorite for Christmas treats and Valentine’s Day gift giving and just like other chocolate covered candy recipes like buckeyes or peanut butter balls they are easy to make homemade right in your own kitchen!
All you need are a few pantry staples to make a chocolate covered cherry recipe. They are an irrestisble candy with a creamy liquid center made from sweet, juicy cherries and then coated in a rich chocolate.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Easy to follow recipe: Each step to make homemade chocolate covered cherries is simple and straightforward, you just need a little time and patience.
- Cherries dipped in chocolate. If you have a friend or family member that loves Queen Anne Cherry Cordials, this homemade candy version will make their day!
Ingredients Notes
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Maraschino cherries. The star of the show in DIY chocolate-covered cherries! I prefer a jar of maraschino cherries that have the red color added. It’s fine to use a brand that does not add a red color, your cherries just won’t have a pink color.
- Powdered sugar and salted butter: Together confectioners’ sugar and salted butter create a fondant coating around the cherries.
- Chocolate. I prefer semi-sweet chocolate melting wafers for a smooth chocolate coating. You can use dark chocolate, make milk chocolate cherries or use white chocolate.
How to Make Chocolate Covered Cherries
Reserve 2 Tablespoons of cherry juice and then drain cherries. Place cherries on plate lined with paper towels to dry.
Pat them lightly with an extra paper towel to remove excess moisture.
In a large bowl combine salted butter, powdered sugar and 1 Tablespoon reserved cherry juice from the jar. Add more powdered sugar until you reach a soft dough. Add another Tablespoon of the cherry juice if the fondant is too dry.
Refrigerate mixture for 20 minutes.
Place about a teaspoon of the fondant filling into your hands then flatten with your palms.
Dust your hands with powdered sugar and wrap fondant around the cherries to completely cover and gently press down on the edges.
Melt chocolate in a glass measuring cup or bowl then holding the cherry stem dip the cherry into the melted chocolate, making sure the chocolate covers the filling completely.
Allow excess chocolate to drip off and then place on piece on lined baking sheet. Allow chocolate to set then store for a few days before enjoying.
Recipe Tips
- Invertase. You may see some recipes for chocolate-covered cherries that require invertase. I did not use this ingredient, but you can add 1/2 teaspoon up to a 1 teaspoon to the fondant coating to speed up the liquefaction process for a more soft, liquid center in the cherries.
- Chill time. After wrapping the cherries in the fondant, chill up to 30 minutes for easier dipping but no longer than 2 hours.
- Stems on (or off). It’s easier to dip chocolate covered cherries with the stems intact. If you prefer to remove them, you will need to use a toothpick for dipping.
- Wait to eat. The longer you let your cherry cordials sit the more liquified the center will become. I prefer at least 3-6 days but for the best chocolate-covered cherries wait up to 2 weeks.
- For gifting: Directly from dipping in the chocolate place in mini white cupcake liners instead of placing on parchment paper.
Storage
- Store: Store chocolate covered cherries in an airtight container in a cool dry place for a month or more. If your house is warm and you have the space, the refrigerator works, too.
- Do not freeze this chocolate-covered cherry recipe: The higher moisture in the cherries will expand and pop the chocolate coating. It’s a mess!
More cherry recipes to try include cherry pie, cherry cheesecake dip and cherry limeade.
More Chocolate Recipes
Browse all
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all the newest recipes!
Chocolate Covered Cherries
Video
Ingredients
- 24 maraschino cherries with stems (about 1 jar)
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter ,softened
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate melting wafers
Instructions
- Drain: Reserve 3 Tablespoons of cherry juice in a bowl and then drain cherries. Place cherries on plate lined with paper towels to dry. Pat them lightly with an extra paper towel to remove excess moisture.
- For the filling: In a large bowl using an electric mixer, combine 3 Tablespoons butter, 2 cups powdered sugar and 1-2 Tablespoons of cherry juice. Add 1/4 cup more powdered sugar at a time until you reach a soft dough. Add another Tablespoon of the cherry juice if the fondant is too dry. Refrigerate mixture for 20 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper.
- Wrap: Place about a teaspoon of filling into your hands and then flatten with your palms. Dust your hands with powdered sugar if necessary. Then wrap around the cherries to completely cover and gently press down on the edges.
- Melt your chocolate in a glass measuring cup (or glass cup), to make it easier for dipping. Then hold the stem and dip the cherry into the melted chocolate, making sure the chocolate covers the filling completely. Allow excess chocolate to drip off and then place on piece on lined baking sheet. Allow chocolate to set.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Candy + Fudge, Chocolate, Christmas, Desserts, Reader Favorites, Valentine's Day
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
Overall these turned out very well. Getting the consistency of the filling correct is most difficult part. Just a little over 2 cups of powdered sugar ended up working for me (and then adding a little more cherry juice). Also, adding the powdered sugar slowly until a soft pliable dough consistency achieved seemed to work best. Once the consistency was right, covering the cherries was easy and the result so tasty, rivaled any cherry cordials I have purchased. – Alisha, recipe tester
Thanks for letting us know what worked best for your Alisha! So glad you enjoyed the chocolate covered cherries!