Cooking Lesson #164 Chocolate-Covered Brandied Cherries

The 2020 Holidays Recipe Collection

How you doin’? This is the time of year you see all those cheap, drugstore chocolate covered cherries on the shelves with the seasonal candy—the ones with the semi-liquid goo in the center. The Brock Candy Company began making cherry cordials in the 1930's and the tiny treat helped keep the company afloat during the Great Depression. Queen Anne Candy Company began making their chocolate cherries in 1948. Neither of these two brands is what this recipe is all about. Mine are sophisticated, luscious brandy-soaked chocolate covered cherries and there is nothing cheap about them.
 
The recipe is as simple as it is delicious and is derived from an old French tradition that started in the 1700s. The confection was called griottes (gree-OAT) and appeared in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Cherries were a local crop, and long-stemmed sour griotte cherries were soaked in a local-made kirsch (cherry brandy) and enrobed in chocolate.
 
This recipe makes beautiful homemade confections that are perfect to give as gifts this time of year.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Soak / Freeze time:  3 hours
Chill time:  10 minutes
Yield: 18 chocolate covered cherries
 
Ingredients
18 maraschino cherries with stems, drained well
1/2 cup kirsch or cherry brandy
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
 
Directions

1. Drain the cherries well and place them, stem end up, in shallow bowl. 
2. Pour brandy over cherries to cover. 
3. Place bowl in freezer for a couple of hours until cherries are frozen.  The brandy itself will not freeze. 
4. Melt the chocolate in double-boiler over hot (not boiling) water.  Do not let any water mix with the chocolate or the chocolate will seize.
5. Drain and dry the frozen cherries on a paper towel and quickly dip, one at a time, into chocolate, swirling by the stem until completely covered.  (Chocolate will harden almost immediately.) 
6. Place the chocolate covered cherries on a wax paper-lined plate or rack in the refrigerator until ready to serve.  Pull them out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving.

ChefSecret: When melting the chocolate, do not let the bottom of the double boiler touch the boiling water or it may burn the chocolate.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  I swear, we are fighting off two pandemics at the same time—Covid-19 and Stupidity. We have been trying to fight stupidity since humans began, and we’re still waiting for an anti-stupid vaccine to be created.
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Here is wishing you the very best for the upcoming holidays. To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind welcoming in the holiday season. If you have a little extra in your pockets to share with others at this difficult time, please consider donating to Feeding America.

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