Spiked Chocolate Covered Cherries
This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure PolicyThese Spiked Chocolate Covered Cherries are a delicious and fun treat to make for the holidays or any time of the year. Cheers!
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Spiked Chocolate Covered Cherries:
This wouldn’t be a proper series on IBC without a few recipes. Today I wanted to share something that’s super easy, but extemely delicious and very fancy looking: Spiked Chocolate Covered Cherries.
I’ve been a fan of chocolate covered cherries since I first tasted one. When I was a child, Santa would always bring me a box of Queen Anne’s Cherries, and I’d gobble them up in no time. Now as an adult (and a blogger), I thought it was time to try making them. However, I’ve kicked them up a notch by spiking them with delicious liquors. Remember the rum soaked gummy cherries I made this summer? Apparently I like to soak things in liquor.
These cherries are pretty simple to make. (See the bottom of this post for the complete recipe.)
Start off by soaking the cherries in your liquor of choice. I tried cherry vodka and white creme de cacao. Let them soak for several days, ideally a week.
Now you’re ready to dip them! I chose milk chocolate for the vodka-soaked cherries and white chocolate for the ones soaked in the creme de cacao. Quick tip here: Dry off your cherries with a paper towel before dipping them. This will help the chocolate to stick.
How to Make Chocolate Covered Cherries:
Once dipped, set the cherries on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Since I was making two varieties, I used the opposite chocolate on each to make a decorative drizzle. Pretty!
Place the chocolate covered cherries in your refrigerator to set them completely.
These spiked chocolate covered cherries are fun to make and delightful to have around for holiday get-togethers. If you keep them covered in the fridge, they should last for a few days.
As it turned out, I liked both liquor flavors equally. The cherry vodka is higher in alcohol so the cherries soaked in it are a bit stronger, but still very tasty. It all depends on what you prefer.
The cherries look fabulous when served by themselves, but you can also tuck them into your cookie trays for a pop of color. The cherries also work beautifully as a cocktail garnish. (They’d be extra delicious in my Cherry Almond Cocktail and White Christmas Martini). I think they’d look really beautiful atop a cake or cupcake.
For some reason, I just love the flavor of cherries during the holidays. They are comfort food. Maybe it’s all those Queen Anne’s I ate as a kid. Who knows?
Give these a try and tell me what you think. If you use any other liquors, please let us know in the comments what you tried and what you liked best. Cheers!
Spiked Chocolate Covered Cherries
Ingredients
- 16 ounces maraschino cherries with stems
- 1/2 cup liquor Cherry vodka or creme de cacao work well.
- 1 cup chocolate chips dark, milk, or white
- 1 teaspoon shortening
Instructions
- Begin by soaking maraschino cherries (with stems) in liquor for 4-7 days. I tried two different versions. One with cherry vodka; the other with white creme de cacao. I soaked my cherries right in the jar they came in. Just empty out the red syrup and fill the jar with the liquor.
- Once they have soaked for the specified time, drain off the liquor. (You can save this for cocktails.) Then, dry the cherries on a paper towel. This will help the chocolate to stick.
- Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper and set aside.
- In a double boiler (or the microwave), melt your chocolate chips and shortening. (The shortening prevents the chocolate from getting really hard.) Stir until smooth.
- Next, dip the cherries into the chocolate and set on wax paper. Add any leftover melted chocolate to a plastic baggie. Cut a very small section of the tip of the bag and pipe lines or designs on the cherries.
Made these today. I let mine soak for 1 week in Mozart Chocolate Cream Liqueur. I used the Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate for dipping. They are amazing! Great recipe! Thank you!!
So creative and so delicious!
I soaked my in Disaronno for a few days then dipped mine in dark chocolate and drizzled red and green chocolate on top to be more festive.