Chocolate covered cherries are perfect for Valentines Day, holidays or for a gift. This chocolate covered cherries recipe has delicious liquid centers surrounding a cherry and covered in scrumptious chocolate. Our chocolate covered cherry recipe tastes better than Queen Anne chocolate covered cherries. We wanted to make a faster version of our family and friends most requested recipe and this mold recipe is the answer. It's faster than you think to make this gourmet chocolate covered cherry recipe. This recipe uses a candy/chocolate mold, however, if you prefer to wrap the cherries with fondant use my Stemmed Chocolate Covered Cherry Recipe without using a candy mold.
Make these easy Chocolate Covered Cherries for Valentine's Day or Mother's Day and bring a smile to your loved one's faces.
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Ingredients For Chocolate Covered Cherries
- Maraschino cherries - decide if you want stems or no stems
- Chocolate - Milk or dark Chocolate. See more below on chocolate choices
- Powdered sugar - not granulated nor caster sugar. Sift after measuring powdered sugar
- Sweetened condensed milk - any brand will work. Not evaporated milk.
- Cherry juice - from maraschino cherries
- Almond extract - flavor of chocolate covered cherries. Not vanilla extract.
- Cream of tartar - helps to invert the sugar syrup for a soft center. Pastry fondant does not contain cream of tartar.
- Butter - margarine will work here, but we always prefer butter over margarine.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions to Make Chocolate Covered Cherries
Preheat oven to 190°F.
Place cherries in a strainer in the sink then remove stems. (No need to let dry since you are not wrapping them, but spooning on fondant)
If using chocolate bar: On a cutting board, chop chocolate into ¼ inch slices. No need to chop if using disks.
Turn oven off and let sit for 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally until smooth.
Sift powdered sugar: Place sifter in a large bowl. Pour powdered sugar into sifter and sift all sugar.
Check the Chocolate using a instant read thermometer, remove at 88°F for milk chocolate or 91°F for dark chocolate.
When completely melted, remove from oven. Stir until smooth, then stir 1 additional minute.
(You can also use a double broiler to melt the chocolate. The oven method allows you to sift powdered sugar while warming chocolate if you prefer)
Filling the Mold: First, pour chocolate into each chocolate mold about ¼ full. Next, rotate chocolate mold until sides of molds are completely covered with chocolate. (Wait until all molds are filled before rotating or chocolate will spill out) Use a spoon to cover missed areas. Return chocolate to oven.
Place chocolate mold in freezer.
Using a stand mixer, combine sifted powdered sugar, cherry juice, almond extract, and cream of tartar in a mixer bowl. Using the wire whip/whisk, mix together until smooth and scraping down sides as needed.
Remove chocolate mold from freezer.
Place 1 stemless cherry in each mold.
Next, fill with liquid fondant ¾ full.
Leave space at the top for chocolate to seal fondant completely.
Place in freezer for 10 minutes.
Remove chocolate from oven and stir.
Cover tops of cherry and fondant to seal the chocolate covered cherry.
Return to freezer for 15-20 minutes.
Turn cherry mold upside down to gently empty cherries onto parchment paper then place in glass or plastic sealed container until ready to eat. The center is creamy and ready to serve immediately.
Hint: If you do not have a chocolate mold, you can use my Stemmed Chocolate Covered Cherries Recipe.
Tempering Chocolate
Temper your chocolate: Nobody wants dull-looking chocolate after all the hard work of making cherries and waiting three weeks for the centers to turn to liquid. Milk Chocolate needs to reach 88 °F. Milk chocolate contains more milk fat with a lower melting point. Dark Chocolate needs to reach 91 °F. Dark chocolate has less milk fat with a slightly higher melting point. White chocolate needs to reach 80 to 82°F. tempered chocolate can be stored for several months at 65°F. Chocolate will seize if comes in contact with water and then cannot be tempered. Read the full tip on Tempering Chocolate here.
Choice of Chocolate
You can use couverture discs or chocolate bars. Callebaut, Valrhona and Guittard are good brands. We love Callebaut, dark callets. Ghirardelli is easy to find in your local grocery store.
Chocolate Chips - Your choice of milk or dark chocolate can be used here, however, skip the chocolate chips. Chocolate chips are formulated to retain their shape when heated which makes them good for cookies.
White Chocolate - I've never tried white chocolate but it is an option.
Equipment
Powdered Sugar Sifter - Find Mine Here.
Stand mixer - Find Mine Here.
Chocolate Mold - #37 Find The Deep Mold for Cherries Here.
Digital food scale - Find Mine Here.
Rubber Spatula - Find My Favorite Here.
Extendable Strainer - Find it Here.
Oven Safe Measuring Cup I use to Heat Chocolate - Find It Here.
Storage
No need to let this set, the centers are soft and ready to eat. However, the fondant will liquefy slightly. Place in a sealed container.
We have not tried freezing these, but if you have, let us know in the comments.
Top tips
Temper your chocolate! See above. Monitor the temperate of chocolate and remove at maximum temperate.
Coming Soon: Watch this video on How and Why to Temper Chocolate.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with Chocolate Covered Cherries:
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Chocolate Covered Cherries Using a Mold
- Total Time: 60
- Yield: 18 1x
Description
Chocolate covered cherries are perfect for Valentines Day, holidays or for a gift. This chocolate covered cherries recipe has delicious liquid centers surrounding a cherry and covered in scrumptious chocolate. Our chocolate-covered cherry tastes better than Queen Anne chocolate covered cherries. We wanted to make a faster version of our family and friends most requested recipe and this mold recipe is the answer. It's faster than you think to make this gourmet chocolate covered cherry recipe.
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 ¾ cup Powdered Sugar
1.5 ounce Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Tablespoons Cherry juice
⅛ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
⅛ teaspoon Almond Extract
6 oz Chocolate Wafers, Callets or Chocolate Baking Bar (chopped if using a chocolate bar)
18 Maraschino Cherries
Instructions
Using stemless cherries in a chocolate mold:
Preheat oven to 190°F.
Place cherries in a strainer in the sink and remove stems. (No need to let dry since you are not wrapping them, but spooning on fondant)
If using chocolate bar: On a cutting board, chop chocolate into ¼-inch slices. No need to chop if using disks.
Place chocolate into oven-safe dish and place in oven. Turn oven off and let sit for 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally until smooth.
Sift powdered sugar: Place sifter in a large bowl. Pour powdered sugar into sifter and sift all sugar.
Check the Chocolate using a instant read thermometer, remove at 88°F for milk chocolate or 91°F for dark chocolate.
When completely melted, remove from oven. Stir until smooth, then stir 1 additional minute.
(You can also use a double broiler to melt the chocolate. The oven method allows you to sift powdered sugar while warming chocolate)
Filling the Mold: Pour chocolate into each chocolate mold ¼ way full.
Next, rotate chocolate mold until sides of molds are completely covered with chocolate.
Use a spoon if needed to cover any holes. Return chocolate to oven. Place chocolate mold in freezer until solid, about 15-20 minutes.
Using a stand mixer, combine sifted powdered sugar, cherry juice, almond extract, and cream of tartar in a mixer bowl. Using the wire whip/whisk, mix until smooth and scraping down sides as needed.
Remove chocolate mold from freezer.
Place 1 stemless cherry in each mold then fill with liquid fondant ¾ full. Leave space at the top for chocolate to seal fondant completely. Place in freezer for 10 minutes.
Remove chocolate from oven and stir. Cover tops of molds with heated chocolate to seal in fondant. Return to freezer for 15-20 minutes.
Turn cherry mold upside down to gently empty cherries onto parchment paper then place in glass or plastic sealed container until ready to eat. The center is creamy and ready to serve immediately.
Notes
Temper your chocolate: Nobody wants dull looking chocolate after all the hard work. Milk Chocolate needs to reach 88 °F. Milk chocolate contains more milk fat with a lower melting point. Dark Chocolate needs to reach 91 °F. Dark chocolate has less milk fat with a slightly higher melting point. White chocolate needs to reach 80 two 82°F. tempered chocolate can be stored for several months at 65°F. Chocolate will seize if comes in contact with water and then cannot be tempered, therefore, you can use the oven method to temper chocolate.
Monitor your chocolates temperate constantly using an instant read thermometer. Chocolate that gets too hot will leave spotted chocolate and will turn white within days.
- Prep Time: 60
- Category: Desserts
Sue says
Wonderful liquid. I used dark chocolate and delicious.