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Sweet homemade chocolate covered cherries are just like you buy them in the box! Enjoy these sweet treats all year long.

These treats are perfect for giving along with Chocolate Strawberries, Caramel Candy, and Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears.

Chocolate covered cherries piled on a white plate.

Why We Love Them!

Have you ever tried chocolate-covered cherries before?

Delicious chocolate covered cherries are coated in milk chocolate and filled with a creamy center and burst of cherry that we all love – especially around the holidays!

Here’s why we love them:

Quick + Easy. These are made in only 30 minutes – then they chill, plus they have simple steps and only a handful of ingredients.
Celebrations. Perfect for a special occasion or holiday like Valentine’s Day or Christmas.
Sharing. A sweet little treat to serve at parties.
Flavor. They taste so good – for a twist try white chocolate!

Maraschino cherries drying on paper towel lined cookie sheet.

Ingredients

maraschino cherries with stems – Drain the cherry juice and let them dry (can take several hours), otherwise, the fondant won’t stick as well.
butter – I used unsalted but salted will also work.
corn syrup
powdered sugar
chocolate candy coating – Choose milk or dark chocolate. For best results use a high-quality candy coating.

How to Make Chocolate Covered Cherries

PREP. Drain cherries and set on paper towels to dry.
FONDANT. Combine butter and corn syrup, in a medium bowl, until smooth. Stir in powdered sugar and mix to form a dough. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Wrap each cherry in 1 teaspoon of dough and chill again for 20-30 minutes.
CHOCOLATE. While cherries are chilling, melt chocolate according to package directions. Dip each cherry in the chocolate and place on a parchment paper or wax paper-lined baking sheet.
- Chill cherries until set and ENJOY!

Use Fresh Cherries

Skip the dough step. Pit the cherries and dip them in plain milk or dark chocolate.

Recipe Tips

Cherry sweat. These cherries only last for a day or two before they may begin to “sweat” (condensation build-up).
- Fully drying the cherries before assembling the treat.
- Keep the cherries out of the fridge and at room temperature.
Candy foot. (excess chocolate pooled around the base) Let excess chocolate drip off of the cherries before placing them on the parchment paper.
Leaking cherries. If there is any kind of crack in the chocolate coating it will leak out. Inspect to make sure there is no pink peeking through. Dip again as needed.
Intraverse is an enzyme that helps liquefy the sugar in the powdered sugar fondant. If you wish, add about 1 teaspoon to the fondant mixture. Once completed it takes only a few days for the liquid center to form.

Chocolate dipped cherries drying on a baking sheet.

Variations

Make chocolate cherries festive or change the flavor with these tips:

Chocolate drizzle. Drizzle melted white candy coating or white chocolate on top of each dipped cherry.
Sprinkles. Add festive sprinkles to the top of the cherries. Be sure to add them before the chocolate sets otherwise, they won’t stick.

Chocolate covered cherries with one cut in half.

Store for Later

STORE in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 6 weeks. Unlike most homemade goods, these are best after 1-2 weeks instead of only good for 1-2 weeks.

FREEZE. When you put these homemade chocolate covered cherries in the freezer the cherries are likely to expand and break the chocolate layer. This makes a huge mess, which is why we don’t recommend freezing this candy.

Close up of chocolate covered cherries on a white plate.

For More Chocolate covered treats:

Chocolate Covered Oreos

35 mins

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

1 hr 5 mins

Recipe Video

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

15 mins

Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears

15 mins

5 from 7 votes