This is a great recipe, but I combined it with another one that I found so I'll let you know my helpful tips. I used the maraschino cherries that have the stems still on them, it made it so easy to dip them in chocolate. Plus people will know that they are homemade. You use less chocolate this way as well. I still used slightly more chocolate than the recipe called for, but not much more as you can shake them off a little bit by holding onto the stem and spinning them. I also soaked my cherries in Taylor's Port for a couple of days before hand. This makes them a delicacy. The alchohol combines with the fondant that you wrap around the cherries and makes a great cordial. It also cuts down on the extreme sweetness of the fondant. This recipe would not have been as good without it. I wrapped my cherries in the fondant and then froze them on a cookie sheet for a couple of days before dipping them, that way they were good and hard. I had no trouble with them melting. To wrap the fondant around the cherries with out it sticking to your fingers, it is best to spray your hands with nonstick spray several times throughout the process. It is also good to blot the excess moisture off the cherries with a paper towel after draining them from the Port. I tried dusting my hands with powdered sugar too, and that didn't work as well as the spray. After these were cooled, I arranged them in little foil cups like miniature cupcake cups and placed them in Candy boxes that you can

Don't bother with this recipe. Expensive and messy. Try the other one on here - it's fantastic!

Living in Saudi Arabia you can’t find chocolate covered cherries so when my father was visiting – I tried making these. They are time consuming and you need to allow at least a week to allow them to age but so worth the effort! Here are my best pointers: 1) drain and blot dry the cherries, then freeze them on cookie sheets. 2) Divide the fondant into four equal pieces and then after lightly dusting it, roll it onto an arm’s length piece of wax paper that you will fold in half. Then turn the fondant over and dust it on the other side so that it won’t stick and place between the two sheets of waxed paper. Stack the layers in the fridge. 3) Take out 10 – 20 cherries from the freezer and use a 2” biscuit cutter to get the right amount of fondant. MAKE SURE THE CHERRY IS SEALED WELL and then freeze the fondant rolled cherries overnight. 4) When you are ready to dip them, take them out 10 – 20 at a time use a good quality semi sweet chocolate. (Candy dipping tools makes it easier although I've used chopsticks before I had those...) Place in the freezer for 15 minutes and then paint the bottom with chocolate again to seal in the fondant. You might need to “repair” other places that were not covered by the chocolate to keep the cherries from oozing. I then allow them to freeze overnight and then place them on the counter under saran for 1 week after giving my family the “don’t you dare touch them” look. I will redip them after the week to make them look fresh.

I read many different recipes before trying my hand at making chocolate covered cherries. They're my Dad's -FAVORITE- and I decided to make them from scratch this year instead of buying them (which has been a Christmas tradition ever since I can remember). This recipe ROCKS. He absolutely loved them (and I can honestly tell you he is VERY picky about his chocolate covered cherries! -and would have been honest about what could have been done differently 'next time' to make them better). **My advice for making them (I read a VERY complex review before making them and thought it would take me a whole day just to put them together...) however, my success (which came without the ultra-complicated procedure) was guaranteed with this recipe (it's really, really easy-just a little time intensive when wrapping the cherries). Hints: *Do start with a pan that will fit in your freezer, lined with Parchment Paper* 1. Always use REAL butter (nothing is like REAL butter- nothing). 2. Don't let your cherries dry out like crazy dry before you wrap them. Make sure the outside is really dry so the 'dough' will wrap around it well, but the juice that's still inside the cherries lends to the 'liquification' process that happens in the next few days. 3. Don't use a huge amount of dough around each cherry. I found that using about 1/8 inch (and of course, I'm NOT measuring...just eyeball it & don't pack it on like a golfball :) this stuff is really rich -and delicious- but RICH...and yo

Great recipe. Whoever had problems b/c she melted butter with the chocolate -- NEVER melt butter with chocolate. You MUST use shortening. The high water content (20%) makes the chocolate freeze up and you'll ruin the entire batch.

This recipe is AWSOME! I made it for valentines day and was greeted with rave reviews. After reading several other reviews I used the idea to soak some of the cherries for 24hrs in different kinds of alchohol such as rum, cognac and port, then made mixed boxes as gifts (Hint: use white chocolate to create identifying marks on each flavor). Since it was only about 4 days from creation to consumption the centers hadn't completely liquified but no one minded; however, I will definately make them further in advance next time. I agree the fondant should be cut in half and the chocoate doubled (at least). I also rolled out the fodant between wax paper to 1/4" thick and used a 1 inch round cookie cutter to get the perfect uniform amount of filling. This one will be made again and again.

I have given my children a box of chocolate covered cherries for Christmas, almost every year of their lives. Thought it would be neat to make them homemade this year. These are definitely more fun to make it if you make it a two-person job & add a glass of wine onto the ingredient list. ;o) I drained my cherries, patted them dry & then layed them out on a parchment paper covered baking sheet & froze them for a couple of hours. Then I made up the fondant (cut recipe in half if you don't want extra for later), wrapped the cherries & then froze overnight. I only pulled a dozen or so out of the freezer at a time to dip (I did use stemmed cherries...very easy to dip). I used ghiradelli double chocolate dipping chocolate & just kept it over a double boiler while we dipped. Drizzled a bit of ghiradelli white chocolate over all once they were dry. Hubby wasn't as conscientious as I about using a thin layer of fondant so next time I might enlist the help of someone else or do it myslef. LOL You really do need to be careful & avoid excess or it's like "find the cherry in the fondant". I saved the remainder of the fondant & I think I will use it w/ some cherries soaked in brandy or port as suggested by some reviewers. Can't wait to give these to my kids...thanks Kathy Nowell!

5-star taste, 4-star rating because of excess fondant quantity. Scaled to 16 servings to = one 10 ounce bottle of stemmed cherries. 4 ounces of confectioners sugar = 1 cup. Also, easy to do chocolate in microwave on 30 second bursts--no need for double boiler. You will need WAY more chocolate than recipe calls for.

I have made a recipe similar to this for some years but tried this and it worked great. It is not a difficult recipe, but you should plan on taking some time out to make them, or do as I did and wrap and freeze the cherries one day and then dip another. In order to make sure that the batter does not stick, you must make sure to drain your cherries VERY well, and if need be, dust your hands with powdered sugar as needed.

This recipe..yes, is time consuming..So, if you want something quick..just buy them. But, they are worth the time. They taste awesome. The only thing I will do differently next time is to wrap the cherry thinly with the fondant and leave the stem on. Very, Very GOOD! I gave it four stars because the measurements were alittle off.