WHAT’S HAPPENING??

It’s National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day!

Here is a fun recipe in case your holiday sweet-tooth is still on duty  😉

Chocolate-Covered Marzipan Cherries:
Ingredients:
12 glace cherries
2 tablespoons rum (or brandy)
100 grams dark chocolate
250 grams marzipan

Marzipan recipe:
1/2 pound blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
1 large egg white at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon strong almond extract
1-1/2 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

Make the marzipan first. If you don’t have a food processor, use an electric coffee grinder and grind the blanched almonds in small batches down into a fine powder, and then put the powder into a large mixing bowl. In a different bowl, whisk the egg white with the salt until it is frothy, and then whisk in the vanilla and almond extracts. Stir the mixture into the almond powder. Sift in the confectioners’ sugar (1/2 cup at a time), constantly kneading the mixture together in the bowl, until you have a smooth, pliable dough. and that’s it: that’s your marzipan paste, ready for further use! You can keep it in a cool refrigerated environment for up to 8 weeks.

Now, line a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper. Take the cherries, cut them in half and place them in a small bowl. Add the rum or brandy and stir well. Then, leave the cherries to soak up the alcohol for at least an hour, stirring every now and then. I the meantime, you can divide your marzipan paste into 24 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Press half of a cherry cherry into the top of each marzipan ball and roll to get the cherry inside.
Break the chocolate into pieces, place in a bowl and set over a saucepan, stirring until it has melted. Using a cocktail stick, dipe each marzipan ball in the chocolate, covering it completely and allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl. Lastly, put the coated cherries on the baking paper and chill until the chocolate hardens.

Enjoy Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day!