Vegan Chocolate Covered Cherries!

Chocolate covered cherries are so good, but it is almost impossible to find vegan ones to buy. So, I have been making my own for several years and they are delicious! The recipe is simple and the ingredients are easy to find. Here is what you will need to make your own vegan chocolate covered cherries:

Drain the maraschino cherries, reserving a tablespoon of the liquid:

Place the drained cherries on a paper towel-lined plate, then cover them with another paper towel. Press gently to remove any liquid from inside the cherries.

Transfer the dried cherries to a fresh paper towel:

Add the vegan powdered sugar, the 40 g of shortening, vanilla, salt, coconut milk, and reserved cherry juice to a mixing bowl:

Mix until the fondant comes together:

You want to be able to knead the fondant without it sticking to the bowl or your hand, so add additional powdered sugar (if necessary) and knead until the fondant looks like the photo below.

Pinch off a piece of fondant the size of the cherry you are coating. (You will get different sizes of cherries, so this way of determining how much fondant to use works the best.)

Roll the piece of fondant into a ball:

Flatten the ball of fondant out into a thin circle:

Place the cherry in the center, then wrap the fondant around the cherry:

Roll the covered cherry around until you have a nice ball:

For cherries with stems, do the same but do not roll the covered cherry:

Place each fondant-covered cherry on a sheet of waxed paper, then chill them for 30 minutes. (It is easier if you put the waxed paper on a cookie sheet before adding the cherries so you can easily put the cherries in the fridge.)

Once your fondant-covered cherries are chilled, temper half of your chocolate chips by following the directions on my post on how to temper chocolate. Remove half of your cherries from the fridge and dip them in the tempered chocolate.

For cherries without stems, put a cherry on the chocolate,

Turn it over with a fork,

Lift the cherry out of the chocolate with the fork,

Scrape the excess chocolate off on the side of the bowl,

Then carefully place the dipped cherry onto a new sheet of waxed paper:

Repeat with the remaining first half of the cherries.

Let the chocolate harden fully before touching the dipped cherries:

You can dip as many more fondant-covered cherries from the second half as you can, but your chocolate will eventually be too shallow to dip any more. Add some chopped nuts and or dried fruit to the remaining chocolate and spread it out on waxed paper to make chocolate bark. Allow it to harden fully, then break the bark into pieces. I used chopped peanuts and got two treat bags full of bark.

Temper your second batch of chocolate and dip the rest of your cherries.

To dip cherries with stems, gently pick up a cherry by the stem and dip fully in the chocolate:

Lift it out, allow the excess chocolate to drop off, then carefully place the dipped cherry on a new sheet of waxed paper:

Repeat with the remaining cherries, then allow the chocolate to harden fully before touching the dipped cherries:

Once the chocolate has fully hardened, place each chocolate covered cherry in a mini muffin liner:

They make a lovely gift! (See my post on how to pack a vegan treat box for boxing directions.)

For best results, store the chocolate covered cherries at room temperature for at least five days so the fondant begins to melt. The cherries are at their best between seven and seventeen days after you make them. Sooner, and the fondant is not as melted. Later, and some of the sugar in the fondant may begin to crystallize.

Do the same for cherries with stems. These do not box up as well as you can’t do multiple layers. I like to add a couple to a small treat bag instead as shown below:

Enjoy!

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Vegan Chocolate Covered Cherries

Make your own delicious vegan chocolate covered cherries! They are simple to make and the ingredients are easy to find!

Course Candy, Dessert, Snack

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 60 cherries

Calories 75 kcal

Author Deborah Mesdag

Ingredients

• 2 10 oz jars Maraschino Cherries
• 420 to 560 g (3 to 4 c) Homemade Vegan Powdered Sugar (*see note)
• 40 g (3 TBS + 1 tsp) Shortening
• 0.8 g (1/8 tsp) Salt
• 7.5 g (1 1/2 tsp) Vanilla Extract
• 30 g (2 TBS) Light Coconut Milk
• 15 g (1 TBS) Maraschino Cherry Juice
• 24 oz Vegan Chocolate Chips (I use Trader Joe's)
• 24 g (2 TBS) Shortening

Instructions

1. Drain the maraschino cherries, reserving a tablespoon of the liquid. Place the drained cherries on a paper towel-lined plate, then cover them with another paper towel. Press gently to remove any liquid from inside the cherries. Transfer the dried cherries to a fresh paper towel.

2. Add the vegan powdered sugar, the 40 g of shortening, vanilla, salt, coconut milk, and reserved cherry juice to a mixing bowl. Mix until the fondant comes together.

3. You want to be able to knead the fondant without it sticking to the bowl or your hand, so add additional powdered sugar (if necessary) and knead until the fondant is no longer sticky.

4. Pinch off a piece of fondant the size of the cherry you are coating. (You will get different sizes of cherries, so this way of determining how much fondant to use works the best.) Roll the piece of fondant into a ball.

5. Flatten the ball of fondant out into a thin circle. Place the cherry in the center, then wrap the fondant around the cherry. For cherries without stems, roll the covered cherry around until you have a nice ball. For cherries with stems, just press the fondant around the cherry as neatly as you can.

6. Place each fondant-covered cherry on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet, then chill them for 30 minutes.

7. Once your fondant-covered cherries are chilled, temper half of your chocolate chips by following the directions on my post on how to temper chocolate. Remove half of your cherries from the fridge and dip them in the tempered chocolate.

8. To dip cherries without stems: put a cherry on the chocolate, turn it over with a fork, lift the cherry out of the chocolate with the fork, scrape the excess chocolate off on the side of the bowl, then carefully place the dipped cherry onto a new sheet of waxed paper. Repeat with the remaining first half of the cherries. Let the chocolate harden fully before touching the dipped cherries.

9. To dip cherries with stems: gently pick up a cherry by the stem and dip fully in the chocolate, lift it out, allow the excess chocolate to drop off, then carefully place the dipped cherry on a new sheet of waxed paper. Repeat with the remaining first half of the cherries, then allow the chocolate to harden fully before touching the dipped cherries.

10. You can dip as many more fondant-covered cherries from the second half as you can, but your chocolate will eventually be too shallow to dip any more. Add some chopped nuts and or dried fruit to the remaining chocolate and spread it out on waxed paper to make chocolate bark. Allow it to harden fully, then break the bark into pieces. 

11. Temper your second batch of chocolate, and dip your remaining cherries. Please note that the cherries with stems use more chocolate than the ones without.

12. Once the chocolate has fully hardened, place each chocolate covered cherry in a mini muffin liner. For best results, store the chocolate covered cherries at room temperature for at least five days so the fondant begins to melt. The cherries are at their best between seven and seventeen days after you make them. Sooner, and the fondant is not as melted. Later, and some of the sugar in the fondant may begin to crystallize.

Recipe Notes

• I used my homemade vegan powdered sugar, but you can use store-bought if you prefer. Homemade is much less expensive, and there is no difference in the texture after the candies have been sitting for a day. (The fondant mixture will be very slightly gritty at first, but then the tiny bits of sugar will dissolve.) You will need between 420 and 560 g of powdered sugar. This is 3 to 4 cups of homemade, and 3 1/2 to 4 2/3 cups of store-bought.

• You will need 12 oz of vegan chocolate chips and 12 g (1 TBS) of shortening for each batch of tempered chocolate. 10 oz of the chocolate can be any size chips and 2 oz needs to be mini chip sized (you can chop up bigger chips.) Follow the directions on my post for how to temper chocolate.