Why would you settle for eating regular cherries and using regular cherries as decoration when you can have chocolate-covered cherries instead? Cherries that are covered in chocolate are all the rage nowadays.
The cherries are hardened in the chocolate to the point they become candy, and it is something that is very popular among pastry chefs. A treat like this is very simple to make with just a four-ingredient chocolate covered cherries recipe. So, let’s begin talking about this easy recipe.
Four Ingredient Chocolate Covered Cherries
Chocolate covered cherries are a delicious candied treat, and you can also add them as decoration on top of pastries, cakes, etc. We’ll now discuss how you can accomplish making these yummy chocolate covered cherries with just four ingredients. Below the steps are given:
Step 1: Acquire Ingredients
You will just need four ingredients. The ingredients themselves are available in any shop. If you bake a lot at home, then you will have most of these ingredients anyway.
However, the cherries should be Maraschino cherries. You can find a jar of these Maraschino cherries available in stores. So, for this ingredient, you might have to go out to purchase it.
For now, our recipe will be to make 25 chocolate covered cherries. So, 25 cherries are needed. The other 3 ingredients are butter, powdered sugar, and any kind of chocolate.
Step 2: Ingredient Preparations
Take your jar of Maraschino cherries and scoop about 25 cherries. The jar will usually consist of softened cherries and some slippery juice from the stored cherries.
Make sure you leave the excess juice in the jar and take the cherries only. The juice will later be used for something else. Lay the cherries down on a paper towel and make sure to keep each cherry placed away from each other.
Step 3: Measuring and Mixing Ingredients
Take a bowl that’s about medium in size and start mixing in the ingredients. In that bowl, pour in 3 cups of the powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons of the butter, and one-fourth of a cup of that cherry juice from the jar.
Before you pour in the butter, you need to make sure you have softened the butter a bit. Begin mixing all these in the bowl.
After everything has come together, you need to add powdered sugar again bit by bit while mixing. The additional powdered sugar should add up to another cup. And the dough that forms should be soft and have a bright pink tint.
Step 4: Managing the Dough
Take the rough dough out of the bowl and mix it with your hands. Knead it for a while till it’s smooth and make sure it does not get too hard. The dough should be soft like cake fondant. Wrap the dough in clean film wrapping and leave it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
After those 20 minutes, the dough should be a bit chilled. Take out and divide the dough into small portions. Roll those bits of dough into small balls.
The size of each of these pink dough balls should be about 1 inch in diameter. Have some powdered sugar set aside to add to the dough if the dough feels too sticky to roll. Adding that sugar helps dry up the dough so that it can be rolled.
Step 5: Prepare the Cherries
Bring your cherries and mini dough balls to your clear counter. Take a dough ball and flatten it gently like a mini wonton and dress it onto a cherry until the cherry is completely covered in the pink dough.
Repeat this process for all the 25 cherries. After you are done, place these wrapped up cherries on a tray and put them in the refrigerator for another round of cooling for 20 minutes.
Step 6: Prepare the Chocolate Covered Cherries
Whatever chocolate you have, white or dark, all you need to do is melt it. Take your cherries out of the fridge and get a skewer to stab the cherries, and dip them in the bowl of melted chocolate.
Lay out a sheet of baking paper on a tray and place each dripping cherry on it. Put the tray in the fridge again until the chocolate has hardened, and the cherries are ready to be eaten.
Final Words
Such a simple recipe will make you want to make these treats in bulk. All the ingredients are available in the nearest stores, and you can make them as quick snacks or quick decorations for any sweet baked goods. Give this four-ingredient chocolate covered cherries recipe a try and enjoy these candied cherries.