This morning I was on a mission. I got up, tended to our wee 6 month old bundle of mayhem, and went straight for the fridge. There was something waiting in there for me, something that called out to my tastebuds and superseded any thoughts of breakfasty etiquette.
That little something? A tray of freshly minted chocolate cherry bites. The night before, I allocated a small portion of my evening to pit a batch of fresh cherries from my parents’ orchard, and then made them a whole lot more exciting by DIPPING THEM IN DARK CHOCOLATE.
I’m sure you can understand why I made an immediate beeline for the fridge first
thing in the morning. After a night of chilling, the chocolate had hardened around the cherries, creating a textural masterpiece. And it didn’t taste half bad either.
And the best part? It was super easy! Not only that, when you examine the nutritional profile, it’s actually pretty impressive. Dark, sweet cherries are positively loaded with anthocyanins, a group of antioxidants that are hot property in the health world these days. On account of these and a range of other therapeutic phenolic compounds, sweet cherries have been shown to lower inflammation and prevent inflammatory diseases, lower risk of gout and arthritis, and support optimum cardiovascular health.
So, a sweet, decadent, HEALTHY dessert or guilt-free snack? What more could you ask for?! Without further ado, here’s our super easy dark chocolate cherry bites recipe.
Dark chocolate cherry bites
Aside from pitting the cherries, you can whip this recipe up in no time at all. You can also use pre-frozen cherries (either from the supermarket or from a batch you froze last summer), but it’s best to coat the cherries in chocolate before they fully thaw, otherwise they tend to get a bit mushy.
Ingredients
- 3 cups dark sweet cherries (pitted)
- 250 g dark chocolate (>72 cocoa solids)
Instructions
- If you're starting with cherries that haven't been pitted, take some time to do that now. If you've got a dedicated pitter, you should be able to complete this step in less than 20 minutes. If you don't, it may take a little longer (I used the blunt end of a kebab skewer before I got my pitter, and it was better than nothing!).
- Break the dark chocolate block up into smallish squares, and place in a double boiler. I fashioned a double boiler by putting an inch of water in a saucepan, then placing a stainless steel mixing bowl on top. Leave the chocolate for a few minutes to fully melt.
- Put 5-6 cherries into the melted chocolate at a time. Use tongs to mix the cherries around in the chocolate until they're fully covered, then transfer to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Repeat until all cherries are used up.
- Place the tray in the fridge for around an hour, or until the chocolate casing has completely hardened (I left mine in the fridge overnight, to resist temptation!). They're now ready to eat!
- The cherries will only keep for a few days in the fridge, so eat up or transfer to a ziplock bag and store in the freezer if you can't keep up.
