It's cold here in Illinois (everywhere?) right now so a great time for candy making. My dad gave us Brach's dark chocolate covered cherries every year for Christmas and now they don't make them. I was hoping this would be like them. I didn't have the chocolate bark so I used the little dark chocolate "buttons" I buy every year at Christmas from the local candy supply store. Also, my cherries didn't have stems but this wasn't a problem. The key is to buy the little Wilton candy dipping packet that has 3 or 4 different kinds of dipping tools. Also, drop these on a cold wax paper covered cookie sheet - helps them set right away. Only a couple needed re-dipped. All that being said, these are good but WAY too sweet. I think next time I will use milk chocolate instead which is probably what the chocolate bark is? Update: I tried this again with the milk chocolate (same buttons from candy making store) and they are way better so I'm upgrading to 5 stars. Thanks!

They are wonderful and they taste exactly like the boxed chocolate covered cherries. It takes a little time to make them, however, it is worth it. Great recipe......

These cherries are delish!!! Tough to keep around the house for two weeks but worth it! THIS IS A GREAT ACTIVITY FOR KIDS! My 8 year old son and I made many for Valentine's Day this year. I froze the cherries after quickly draining the juice out. The juicier the cherry the better. We then wrapped them and tossed them into the freezer again while we melted the chocolate. Dulci Frutta is a perfect chocolate for this recipe and for projects with kids! Last step was to drizzle a little white chocolate across the top. My son was very proud to hand these out after he had helped with every step of this recipe. We only altered the recipe by adding a small amount of the cherry juice to the fondant and then more sugar to even out the dough. Also, made Grand Marnier cherries for the adults by marinating the drained cherries for two days. SO YUMMY!

These are very good. I made them last week and they have improved with age, but I'm giving them a 4 star rating because the filling is a little pasty.

VERY easy to make. turned out perfectly after sitting for 2 weeks. they were gone in 20 minutes. I will buy the big jar of cherries from Sam's club for next time.

These were awesome! I never thought I would ever be making chocolate covered cherries. I had no idea how the liquid got around the cherry. I made these as a Christmas gift for my parents, and it was loved by all. I just used the Wilton chocolate wafers (you can get at Wal-Mart, Michaels, JoAnns) in the candy/craft baking area. I melted them in a double boiler and they were terrific. After I had dipped them, I did go back and use a knife to spread more chocolate on the bottom and laid them on their side to harden quickly. That way I was able to avoid any leaking out the bottom. Thanks for a great recipe!

5 stars for flavor. We made these for Christmas gifts this year and then took the leftovers to a church supper - Word got out fast and they were completely gone in no time! Our only problem was wrapping the cherry in the fondant. We ended up making them like peanut butter cups in the mini muffin pan. The shape may not be right, but nothing oozes out after they have set up and I think people liked that extra bite of goodness that they had to take!

These were wonderful. Next time I am going to put the cherries to rum for a couple of days for extra flavor. Thanks

Turned out wonderful! I used a little less powdered sugar coating on mine, and they turned out fabulous! I also drizzled white chocolate over the tops for looks. I gave these away as Christmas gifts. Thanks so much for sharing!

Oh my these are sooo good!!! I didn't have enough fondant to cover all of my cherries, so next time I will make about 1 and 1/3 times the amount to cover all of my cherries. Also, it is necessary to go back the next day and patch the holes before the liquid oozes out, or you will have unpleasant looking candies. I didn't use candy coating because I'm not sure what kind of quality chocolate taste it would give, so I melted good chocolate with a little bit of shortening and it worked perfectly. I will be making these every year!

SO TIME CONSUMING, but these are very addictive. I doubled the recipe and dipped half in semi-sweet choc chips w/2 tbsp shortening and the other half in white choc. I added 2 tbsp cherry juice and 1/2 tsp almond extract to dough mixture. Was a nice addition!!!! I left the stems on, because I think they look decorative that way and they are easy for everyone to pick up! I froze cherries first, then chilled them after wrapping dough on them and then took a few out of fridge at a time and dipped in choc. Helpful hint: I rolled dime size balls of dough in palm then flattened and it wrapped nicely around cherry. Dont let dough get warm, will not wrap easily.

I made this for a Christmas party and they got rave reviews. I personally don't like chocolate covered cherries, but wanted to make something different. They are time consuming to make, but worth it according to my guests! I will be making them again.

This is a great recipe because the candy comes out tasting great especially after a few days and everyone will be impressed at the christmas party!

These are absolutely delicious. everyone loves them and i always get tons of compliments on them. they r good when they sit for a few days to a week. I usually dip them in melted choc(with shortening) and put them right into little baking cups. They look pretty and really arent hard to make. Well worth the little bit of effort!!

Yummy, better after a week. But they are a lot of work for what seemed like very little yeild. Only take the time if you have a true chocolate covered cherry lover!

This is a delicious recipe. I put them on wax paper and have had no problem with the inside dripping out.

THE BEST.make sure you use the COATING and not regular chocotate, as I learned the second time i made these. Excellent receipe. THANK YOU and my son-in-law says thanks too

WOW! These are hands down the absolute best chocolate covered cherries I have ever eaten! I have never really cared for them until now, but I wanted to make some for my husband so this recipe looked easy enough. Boy was I surprised when I bit into one of these. I can't stop eating them. I had such good results that I thought I'd share what I did: I wanted to make a big batch so I used 4 jars of Great Value (Wal-mart) maraschino cherries WITH STEMS-hint: these are not with the canned fruit, they are on the isle with ice cream toppings. I tripled the dough recipe and used 1 bag of dark chocolate chips mixed with 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 TBSP shortening. This was the right amount of chocolate and dough for the number of cherries. I drained and chilled the cherries, wrapped in dough then briefly chilled before dipping them in the chocolate. I left the stems on for ease of dipping in chocolate. I let them sit overnight then pulled the stems out the next morning. Where the stem left a small hole I patched it with a dab of chocolate. Once dried, I flipped them over and used a butter knife to spread an extra layer of chocolate on the bottom to cover any thin areas where they sat on the wax paper. This took a little work but I had NO leaking and from dipping them with the stems on they had a nice even coating on the outside and looked very much like the store bought kind. Everyone that has had one has LOVED them. I will definitely make these again and aga

I was looking for gift ideas and came across this recipe. Chocolate cherries are a family favorite, and I'm the family baker- so I thought they'd be a hit.. They were! (Didn't last till the holidays though!) Followed some tips from other reviews and came up with a few more. - a tsp. of the syrup from the jar of cherries in the powdered sugar added a nice color/flavor. - keeping everything cool is essential. Froze my cherries as was suggested, wrapped them and froze them again. I took 5 out at a time to dip. Makes them much easier to work with. -my chocolate was a little too thick to dunk the cherries in (milk chocolate/bittersweet mix) so I thinned it out with a little milk and it was still thick enough to coat them, but loose enough to dip and pull them out easily. -I found using a shotglass for the chocolate was the perfect depth to dip and roll the cherries, and the chocolate didn't harden as fast as in a bowl or dish. I kept my pot of chocolate on low heat and just added to the shotglass every 5 cherries or so. -I used a pan lined with parchment paper, wiped the parchment with a little cooking spray and my cherries didn't stick at all. -I had a butterknife on hand, and immediately filled any holes and smoothed out the cherries as I dipped them while the chocolate was still hot. Super easy recipe once all the prep work is done and my family loved them. Much better than store bought!

Love these cherries. we give them as gifts every Christmas.