It's National Cherry Month, which means cherry blossom festivals are popping up all over the country, enticing us with promises of sweet, red fruit. If you're like us, and can't wait for the delicate blossoms to turn into edible beauties, then try this recipe for chocolate covered cherries. This recipe was concocted while the author was in college, working with the bare minimum of supplies and a midnight hankering for anything sweet. It has been perfected through annual cooking sessions on February 14th while listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (on repeat). 

Chocolate Covered Cherries

Ingredients:

• 12 oz fair trade organic chocolate (You can choose dark chocolate for a healthy twist.)
• 12 oz organic cherries (When cherries are not in season, substitute canned ones. Frozen works just as well, just make sure to thaw thoroughly.)
• Optional: fair trade organic cocoa powder

Directions:

• Drain and chill the cherries. (If you used canned cherries, save the juice for an extra recipe at the bottom.)
• Chop up the chocolate as much as possible to speed up the melting. To double boil, place a sauce pan of water on the stove, bring it to a boil, and place a metal bowl on top. Pour chocolate into the bowl and stir. Chocolate can burn easily, so make sure to keep stirring the whole time and wear a mitt on the hand holding the bowl to avoid potential burns. 
• Once the chocolate has melted into creamy deliciousness, turn the stove off and set the bowl of chocolate away from the heat (if the bottom is damp, place it on a dish towel). 
• Take chilled cherries and roll them around in the chocolate. Chilling fruit slightly and then completely submerging them in chocolate works best, but is also the messiest. 
• Remove cherry once sufficiently covered and place on parchment or wax paper to cool.
• Optional: When chocolate has hardened slightly roll the cherries in cocoa powder. 

Extras:

Canned cherries will leave about two cups worth of cherry juice after draining, and rather than let that go to waste, make a syrup that can be mixed into drinks, poured over pancakes, or enjoyed in other recipes. 

Cherry Syrup

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cherry juice
• Optional: organic sugar or sweetener substitute, organic rum

Directions:

• Place saucepan with cherry juice on stove, turn on high. Stir or whisk the juice as it begins to boil. 
• Let the juice reduce for 8-10 minutes (or less if you don't have two full cups). If you prefer something sweeter, add about a tablespoon of your favorite sweetener while it's boiling. If you want to make a cherry cordial of sorts, then add a tablespoon of rum after you have removed the pan from the heat. 

Once cool, you can use the syrup in Shirley Temples, Black Forest Cake or one of your own kitchen-creations.

-- recipes reprinted with permission by Bianca Hernandez

-- top image iStockphoto/R_Koopmans

-- bottom image provided by Bianca Hernandez

Bianca Hernandez is an editorial intern at Sierra. She recently received her MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Southern California and has written for various publications.

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