Chocolate-covered Cherry Cordials are a delightful sweet treat that’s popular for the holidays. Skipped the boxed candy, and learn to make cherry cordials from scratch with this simple recipe.
If you’ve enjoyed prepackaged store-bought cherry cordials, you’ll understand their wild appeal: Sweet, syrupy maraschino cherries are covered in an amaretto-spiked fondant and then covered in rich dark chocolate.
They explode in your mouth when you eat them, in the absolute best way!
This recipe for homemade cherry cordials is miles above anything you can buy in a box. These can be made with or without amaretto liquor, and they will be a huge hit with the whole family.
If you love cherries, you might want to take a look at my classic cherry pie recipe, and my easy recipe for cherry vanilla ice cream next!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
The holidays are all about spending time with our family and friends, but they’re also all about enjoying amazing food.
It doesn’t matter if you’re baking Christmas cookies, cooking breakfast for your family to enjoy after the morning festivities are through, or hosting New Year’s Eve dinner for a crowd.
We all know that holiday foods are just more special than everyday foods, and these Cherry Cordials are one of my favorite special holiday treats!
Making chocolates might seem intimidating, but I promise that this recipe is easy! If you can melt chocolate, you can make homemade cherry cordials, and everyone will be so impressed with you this year!
The best part? This recipe makes 75 cherries! That’s more than enough to share with everyone you love this holiday.
While you’re making this easy holiday candy recipe, check out my recipes for Divinity Candy, Cream Cheese Mints, and Peppermint Hot Chocolate Fudge.
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make these decadent cherry candies:
- Cherries: Maraschino cherries are the star of this show. You can buy the cherries without the stems, or remove them yourself – we won’t need them here. Drain away the liquid from the cherries, and let them dry on a paper towel while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
- Chocolate: To get the best snappy chocolate coating, I’m using a combination of semi-sweet (or dark chocolate) chips and almond bark. The almond bark keeps the chocolate slightly softer so that it’s easy to bite into. Instead of almond bark, you can also use chocolate candy wafers, aka candy melts.
- For the Fondant: The thick creamy filling is made from powdered sugar, corn syrup, softened butter, and a bit of amaretto liqueur. If you’d rather not add alcohol to your cherries, flavor the fondant with about ¼ teaspoon of almond extract instead.
- Sprinkles: Your cherry cordials will be delicious without any embellishments, but for NYE, I like to make things sparkle! Here I’m decorating with coarse gold sugar sprinkles as well as some pearls and stars.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How To Make Homemade Cherry Cordials
- Make the Fondant: In a bowl, combine the softened butter and corn syrup. Whip with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the amaretto liquor and mix again. Finally, add half of the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Continue to add additional powdered sugar until the dough resembles a soft Play-Doh consistency.
- Wrap the Cherries: Take a small ball of the sugar dough that’s just a bit bigger than a cherry. Flatten it into a dish in the palm of your hand. Wrap one of the dry cherries with the dough, making sure that it’s fully covered and sealed. Roll the wrapped cherry with your palms to create a smooth round shape.
- Keep Going! Continue wrapping the cherries with the fondant and placing them on a parchment-lined tray until they are all wrapped and ready for their chocolate coating.
- Melt the Chocolate: Add the dark or semisweet chocolate and the almond bark to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 15-30 second intervals, stirring after each, until smooth and combined.
- Dip: Carefully dip each of the wrapped cherries into the melted chocolate. Let any excess drip away and set onto a parchment paper to dry and harden.
- Decorate: If you’d like, drizzle the cherry cordials with a bit more melted chocolate and top with your favorite holiday sprinkles.
Tip!
A fork is the perfect tool for dipping these candies into chocolate! If needed, use two forks so that you can easily move the cherries around to coat all of the sides.
Recipe Tips
- Save the liquid from the cherries: It can be added to cocktails or mocktails!
- Make your cherry cordials extra fun: Soak the maraschino cherries in amaretto or flavored vodka for a couple of hours. Dry them well before following the rest of the recipe.
- If the fondant seems sticky: Add a bit more powdered sugar to the dough. You can also coat your hands in sugar to make things easier.
- Be precise: You can weigh out the fondant dough and then divide it evenly based on the number of cherries you have. This way, each candy will be exactly the same size! If you’d rather not, that’s ok too.
- Keep things neat: Your hands will leave prints on the chocolate. If you want to avoid this, wear gloves while you dip and decorate the cherry cordials.
Storing Tips
Cherry cordials can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or more! If you’ve decorated them, it’s best to keep them in a single layer to avoid messing up the details.
Recipe FAQs
What alcohol is in cherry cordials?
This recipe is made with a small amount of amaretto liqueur, used mostly for flavor. To make your cherries more alcoholic, you can soak them in brandy or vodka before coating them in fondant and chocolate.
Can I make cherry cordials without any alcohol?
Of course! Simply leave out the amaretto in this recipe. If you like, add a small amount of almond extract instead.
Should I serve these chilled?
I enjoy the texture of homemade cherry cordials when they are cold. But you might prefer them at room temperature, as the filling will be a bit softer. Try it both ways and decide for yourself!
More Chocolate Treats to Make
These homemade chocolate cherry cordials are fun to make and so impressive! Add them to your Christmas cookie platters this year, or serve them for New Year’s Eve and get ready for the compliments.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Cherry Cordials
Equipment
Ingredients
- 20 ounces (567 g) maraschino cherries stemless, approx 75 pieces
- 4 tablespoons (52 g) salted butter
- 4 tablespoons (60 ml) light corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) amaretto liquor optional
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 10 ounces (283 g) semi sweet or dark chocolate
- 4 ounces (113 g) chocolate almond bark
- sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Drain the maraschino cherries and let them dry on a paper towel.
- In a mixing bowl combine the softened butter and corn syrup. whip together with an elextric mixer until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
- Add in the amaretto liquor and mix again.
- Add in two cups of the powdered sugar, mix until combined. Continue to add additional powdered sugar until the dough becomes a soft Play-Doh consistency.
- Take a small ball of the dough, a little bit bigger than a cherry, and flatten it into the palm of your hand. Place one of the dry cherries into the middle of the dough, wrap the dough around the cherry making sure it is fully covered and sealed. Roll the ball of dough with the cherry in it gently between your hands to get a nice round shape, then set the wrapped cherry aside on a piece of parchment paper. Continue to do this until all of the cherries have been wrapped.
- Melt the dark chocolate with the chocolate almond bark in a microwave safe bowl, heating in 15 to 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until smooth and combined.
- Carefully dip each of the wrapped cherries into the melted chocolate. Let the excess chocolate drip off then set onto a sheet lined with parchment paper.
- After all of the cherries have been dipped and have hardened, decorate with additional melted chocolate and sprinkles if desired.
Notes:
- Save the liquid from the cherries. It can be added to cocktails or mocktails!
- Make your cherry cordials extra fun: Soak the maraschino cherries in amaretto or flavored vodka for a couple of hours. Dry them well before following the rest of the recipe.
- If you’d rather not add alcohol to your cherries, flavor the fondant with about ¼ teaspoon of almond extract instead.
- If the fondant seems sticky: Add a bit more powdered sugar to the dough. You can also coat your hands in sugar to make things easier.
- Be precise: You can weigh out the fondant dough and then divide it evenly based on the number of cherries you have. This way, each candy will be exactly the same size! If you’d rather not, that’s ok too.
- A fork is the perfect tool for dipping these candies into chocolate! If needed, use two forks so that you can easily move the cherries around to coat all of the sides.
- Keep things neat: Your hands will leave prints on the chocolate. If you want to avoid this, wear gloves while you dip and decorate the cherry cordials.
- Storage: Cherry cordials can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or more! If you’ve decorated them, it’s best to keep them in a single layer to avoid messing up the details.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
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