Chocolate Covered Drunken Cherries Recipes

Steps:

• 1. *If you have moonshine cherries, pour the juice into another container and save for another use. Place cherries on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. If the cherries have stems leave them on.
• 2. Use paper towels to dry off cherries as much as possible.
• 3. In large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream butter until light and fluffy. Add salt and vanilla. Gradually add some of the sugar and condensed milk, beating after each addition. Continue until all sugar and milk are incorporated. Chill well.
• 4. Place a small amount of sugar mixture in the palm of your hand and flatten into a small circle. Place a cherry in the center and shape into a ball covering the cherry with sugar mixture.
• 5. Place each cherry on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. When desired number of cherries are wrapped put cookie sheet into the freezer while you melt the chocolate for dipping. (Freeze for at least 30 minutes.)
• 6. Melt chocolate according to package directions. The cold cherries will cause the chocolate to thicken so add some crisco or cooking wax, a little at a time, to thin the chocolate for easy coating.
• 7. Hold cherries by the stem, or using a fork, toothpick, or spoon and dip the cherries in chocolate and put back on waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.
• 8. If you like a thick chocolate coating, dip cherries a second time after the first coat has hardened.
• 9. Make your own drunken cherries by pouring the cherry juice out of the jar and saving it for another use. Pour Everclear into jar and cover cherries. Let sit for 2-4 months. It can sit longer if desired. After using cherries reserve Everclear cherry juice for another use or add more cherries.

Steps:

• Drain cherries and set on paper towels to 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. Wrap each cherry in about 1 teaspoon of dough. Chill until firm.
• Melt confectioners' coating in a heavy saucepan over low heat. 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. Best after 1 or 2 weeks.

Steps:

• Place the dried cherries in a coating pan attached to a stand mixer. Spin at low speed. Using a ladle, add the chocolate to the spinning cherries. Add one ladleful at a time until the cherries are coated to the desired thickness. (Use a 50/50 ratio (50 percent chocolate, 50 percent weight of the cherries.) If a thicker coat is desired, use more chocolate and vice versa.
• How to Temper Chocolate(From Dessert Circus, Extraordinary Desserts You Can Make At Home by Jacques Torres):
• Chocolate is tempered so that after it has been melted, it retains its gloss and hardens again without becoming chalky and white (that happens when the molecules of fat separate and form on top of the chocolate). There are a variety of ways to temper.
• One of the easiest ways to temper chocolate is to chop it into small pieces and then place it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time on high power until most of the chocolate is melted. Be very careful not to overheat it. (The temperature of dark chocolate should be between 88 and 90 degrees F, slightly warmer than your bottom lip. It will retain its shape even when mostly melted. White and milk chocolates melt at a temperature approximately 2 degrees F less because of the amount of lactose they contain.) Any remaining lumps will melt in the chocolate's residual heat. Use an immersion blender or whisk to break up the lumps. Usually, chocolate begins to set, or crystallize, along the side of the bowl. As it sets, mix those crystals into the melted chocolate to temper it. A glass bowl retains heat well and keeps the chocolate tempered longer.
• Another way to temper chocolate is called seeding. In this method, add small pieces of unmelted chocolate to melted chocolate. The amount of unmelted chocolate to be added depends on the temperature of the melted chocolate, but is usually 1/4 of the total amount. It is easiest to use an immersion blender for this, or a whisk.
• The classic way to temper chocolate is called tabliering. Two thirds of the melted chocolate is poured onto a marble or another cold work surface. The chocolate is spread out and worked with a spatula until its temperature is approximately 81 degrees F. At this stage, it is thick and begins to set. This tempered chocolate is then added to the remaining non-tempered chocolate and mixed thoroughly until the mass has a completely uniform temperature. If the temperature is still too high, part of the chocolate is worked further on the cold surface until the correct temperature is reached. This is a lot of work, requires a lot of room, and makes a big mess.
• A simple method of checking tempering, is to apply a small quantity of chocolate to a piece of paper or to the point of a knife. If the chocolate has been correctly tempered, it will harden evenly and show a good gloss within a few minutes.

Steps:

• Finely chop 1/2 pound dark chocolate. Combine three-quarters of the chocolate and 1 teaspoon coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring, until the chocolate is melted; stir in the remaining chocolate until smooth. Dip 1 pound fresh cherries in the chocolate by the stems and set on parchment paper. Let harden at room temperature.