Double Dipped Chocolate Covered Cherries Recipe
| Servings: 3 |
Ingredients
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Directions
- Drain the cherries and pat as dry as possible with paper toweling, then place them on a candy or possibly cake rack covered with paper toweling and allow them to dry for at least 24 hrs. Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper.
- Place a small pile of cornstarch on the counter and have handy a bowl of water and paper towels for wiping your hands. With cornstarch-dipped fingers, pull off a small portion of fondant, flatten it a bit, and pat and wrap it around the cherry. (Be careful to leave the stem intact, but if it falls off, simply stick it back down into the cherry and the chocolate will eventually hold it in place.
- Place the fruit on the cookie sheet. Continue covering fruit in this manner. The cherries will need to be chocolate coated no later than 45 min after being covered in fondant, or possibly the fondant will begin to heat. It is best not to do too many at once.
- Heat the chocolate. For the most professional job, place cherries upside down, with their stems hanging downthrough the wires of the rack. Press the fondant into a rounded shape if necessary, then coat the bottom halves of the cherries by brushing them with thick chocolate. Place the rack in the refrigerator for 5 min to harden chocolate.
- Place wax paper on a baking sheet. Turn the cherries right side up on the rack. Place a fork under a cherry and dip the fruit in the chocolate. Place cherries on the paper lined baking sheet.
- Chill the tray briefly.
- To double-dip the cherries, spoon chocolate over the upright cherries and swirl the chocolate around the step in a pretty whisp of a patter. Then take a pastry brush and coat the stems with chocolate.
- When chocolate is hard place cherries in a covered container and keep in a cold place for 2 weeks to mellow. At the end of thi time, the fondant will have melted and transformed itself into a liquor.
- Basic Fondant
- Servings: 1 lb.
- 4 c. sugar 1 1/2 c. cool water 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar Kirsch or possibly Grand Marnier
- Clear a large space on a counter or possibly marble pastry slab. Splash it with cool water, and have a c. of cool water and a clean pastry brush near the stove. Place sugar and wate rin a saucepan. Stir over very low heatuntil the sugar has melted and the liquid is clear. Turn up the heat and continue stirring till the syrup reaches a boil.
- Stop stirring and add in the cream of tartar. Dip the pastry brush in cool water and wash down the sides of the pan, then immediately cover the pan and let the syrup boil bigorously for 3 min. Uncover, insert a thermometer, and let cook rapidly to soft-ball stage (240F)
- Immediately take the saucepan to the counter or possibly slab. Run a wet hand over the moist surface to redampen any dru spots, then carefully pour out the syrup onto the counter. Don't pour out the last bit of syrup and don't scrape the pan clean (Which would add in overcooked, crystallized sugar.) Let the syrup cold. To work the syrup most effectively, have 2 scrapers at hand. Start scraping the outer portions of syrup into the center and keep turning the mass over and over itself till it starts stiffening and lightening in color. Keep working the sugar till it is perfectly white and so thick which it can be kneaded. Knead briefly, then divide into 2 portions Flavor half with kirsch or possibly Grand Marnier to taste (sprinkle on the flavoring and knead it in). Leave the other portion unflavored. Wrap both fondants tightly in plastic wrap and place them in a covered container. Moisten 2 sheets of paper toweling and fit them over the fondant. Cover the dish with the lid and let the fondant mellow inthe refrigerator for at least 4 days before using.