Homemade Chocolate Covered Cherries

Chocolate covered cherries are one of my dad's favorite sweets and for Christmas I wanted to make up a batch of them from scratch.  I was afraid at first of making them but they ended up being super easy and didn't take much time.  The key is to make them several weeks in advance to when you will want to eat them as they are better as they "age" to make them more gooey inside.

Ingredients:

60 maraschino cherries with or without stems

3 Tbsp butter, softened

3 Tbsp corn syrup

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 pound chocolate confectioners' coating

Method:

Drain cherries and set on paper towels to dry.

(I moved them to a second paper towel to pat them dry.)

In a medium bowl, combine butter and corn syrup until smooth. 

Stir in confectioners' sugar and knead to form a dough. Chill to stiffen if necessary. 

Scoop up about 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of dough.

After scooping the teaspoon ball, I flatten it out a bit.

Then place the cherry in the middle and wrap the dough around to enclose the cherry.

Lightly roll the ball around between your hands to make it round and smooth.

 Chill on a cookie sheet in the fridge until firm.

Melt confectioners' coating chocolate in a heavy saucepan over low heat or on low heat in a fondue pot.

Drop the balls one at a time in the melted chocolate and scoop up with a fork.  Tap edge of pan to let excess chocolate drip off.  Use a spoon to help place the coated cherry on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.  Or if you have stems on your cherries, dip each cherry in by its stem, and place on waxed paper lined sheets. 

Chill until completely set. Store in an airtight container in a cool place. They are best if we wait 1 or 2 weeks before eating them so the insides can get gooey.