Movin Groovin Chocolate Bourbon Cherries

“Hey, she got the way to move me, Cherry
She got the way to groove me
She got the way to move me
Cherry, baby
She got the way to groove me
All right!”

Cherry, Cherry – Neil Diamond

Delicious cherries are arriving at stores around the country for Valentine’s Day! We bought 2 packages of delicious ripe red cherries for this recipe. Sadly, those cherries were eaten before any recipe testing could begin. Back to the store we went for more! Triple more! Just sharing this with you, so you can make sure to pick up extra cherries to snack on when you try this recipe.

Our Movin’ Groovin’ Cherries got their name from being so good you will get groovin’ when you try them!

This recipe is fun and forgiving. We are not chocolatiers, but our efforts resulted in elegant and delicious cherries worthy of sharing or gifting. Or keep them to yourself and enjoy them while dancing in your kitchen to Neil Diamond. No judgment here, friends.

We chose milk chocolate to add a good level of sweetness to compliment the bourbon soaked cherries. You can select a darker chocolate for a less sweet expression.

INGREDIENTS

• 30 fresh Cherries (rinsed well)
• medium glass dish
• 1/2 cup Two Bitch™ Bourbon
• double boiler (saucepan with metal bowl)
• 3 (3.2 oz Milk Chocolate Bars
• cherry pitter
• parchment or wax paper

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse cherries. Select approx. 30 cherries with nice stems.
2. Use  a cherry pitter to remove the pit. Position the pitter to remove the pit from the side of the cherry. This will keep your stem intact.
3. Place pitted cherries in a glass dish. Cover with Two Bitch™ Bourbon so cherries are sitting in bourbon. Cover loosely with foil or saran wrap allowing space for evaporation.
4. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
5. Remove from refrigerator and gently strain cherries reserving the liquid for cocktails. Place cherries on paper towels and allow to drain for 15 minutes.
6. Roughly chop the chocolate bars. Set up a double boiler (metal bowl over a pot of gently simmering water). Add 3/4 of the chopped chocolate and whisk. Keep the temperature low and allow the chocolate to melt slowly. Once completely melted, remove from the heat and whisk in the rest of the chopped chocolate until melted.
7. Gently dip and twirl the bourbon cherries in the melted chocolate.
8. Set dipped cherries onto parchment or wax paper. Hold upright by the stem for a few seconds to get them to stand upright.
9. Serve immediately or place in the refrigerator loosely covered to avoid condensation.