A Sweet Experiment

I'm trying something a little different this year. I'm making my own Valentine treats. It's a bit of an experiment, because I don't know how it's going to work out, but I figured I'd give it a try.


I got the recipe from my Gooseberry Patch calendar. I've used their recipes before with good result, so I thought I'd try this one and see. This is a recipe for chocolate covered cherries. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out for you. I'll let you know how it goes for me!


Chocolate Covered Cherries
You need:
3 10 oz jars maraschino cherries with stems, drained
3 T margarine
3 T light corn syrup
2 c. powdered sugar
1 lb melting chocolate, chopped.


1. Drain cherries on paper towels for several hours.











2. Combine margarine and corn syrup in a medium bowl. Stir in powdered sugar.





3. Shape 1/2 teaspoon mixture around each cherry.
**To do this, I took a little of the mixture in my hand, rolled it into a ball to warm it up, then flattened it, and wrapped it around the cherry. Then I smoothed it out. It was time consuming, but kind of relaxing, once I got the hang of it.
















4. Chill for one hour, or until firm.
**Put them on something non-stick, because they will stick. Here I used a Silpat. Buttering or spraying the pan will work too, I think.








5. Melt chocolate in a double boiler over low heat. Dip cherries in chocolate and chill. Store in an airtight container. Allow candy to ripen 2 weeks to develop liquid centers. Makes 4 to 5 dozen.





I have a couple of notes to add to this recipe. First, I bought 2 16 oz jars of maraschino cherries. Since 3 10 oz are 30 oz, and 2 16 oz are 32 oz, and that was more cost effective, that's what I went with. I don't know if that 2 oz are just a billion more cherries or whatever, but I wound up with at least 7 dozen cherries, instead of the 4 or 5 dozen they were saying. Also, I couldn't find cherries with stems. Maybe that's why I had so many more? Anyway, because I did have so many more, I had to make the corn syrup/powdered sugar mixture twice. And I found that you need 4 to 5 tbs of corn syrup, not the 3. 3 tbs. leaves the mixture too crumbly to shape.

Right now, I have 80 some-odd little balls of chocolate sitting in the fridge. I made them on Sunday, so they won't have 2 weeks even to "ripen", but I'm still hoping for the best. I will let you know!