Drunken Cherries

This is a creation I made after a discussion over coffee with Debbie, a friend and true foodie, who was thinking of ideas for her column in the Canberra Times Food and Wine magazine.

Debbie's recipe is a little different, using fondant rather than marzipan, and at least 70% cocoa chocolate rather than normal dark chocolate.

You will need:
Large fresh cherries with no marks and stalks attached
Marzipan
Dark chocolate

Wash and dry cherries
Cover each cherry with a thin to medium layer of marzipan - you may need to experiment on the best way of doing this, either rolling it out or pressing little pancakes with damp (clean) fingers
Once covered, allow to dry while you melt chocolate in a double boiler
Carefully dip cherries into melted chocolate, making sure to cover the base of the stalk
Rest on a clean sheet of baking paper until chocolate is set
Dip cherries a second time ensuring the whole cherry is covered (I did this the over complicated way and hung them by the stalk with pegs to create a pretty tear shape - but as I said, over complicated)

Once the chocolate is completely set, place cherries in an air tight container in the fridge for 1 - 2 weeks
1 week gives a beautifully combined flavour; 2 weeks allows for the natural fermentation of the fruit with sugar creating a delicious cherry fizz...


Perfect with an espresso or glass of pyjama vino