I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Mine was full of family, food and festivities. Okay I just threw in that last one to keep with the trend. It really should be family, food and naps. I don’t know why but whenever my family gets together 2PM becomes nap time. I’m not even a big napper but after a filling lunch, I just passed out.
While I have been home, my family has been cooking our way through Michelle Tam of Nom Nom Paleo’s new cookbook “Food 4 Humans.” I’ll share some of the things we made later, but I just have to say that everything so far has been absolutely amazing!
These dark chocolate cherry bites came to me when I wanted to recreate a dessert I loved as a child, cherry mash candies. Now these don’t taste like the powder frosting, maraschino cherry filled treats, but I have to say I like them better! As I get older, I just can’t handle the level of sweetness I used to love. These candies are a little tart wrapped in delicious dark chocolate. My dad who isn’t much on sweets ate a couple!
Ingredients
- 1 14oz can coconut cream
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 cups finely shredded coconut
- 10 oz bag of frozen cherries
- 1 bag enjoy life chocolate chips
Directions
- In a small sauce pot over medium heat, cook coconut cream until boiling.
- Add honey and stir until completely dissolved.
- Reduce to a simmer and cook for 35-40 minutes stirring occasionally. The mixture should reduce to slightly more than one cup.
- While coconut cream in cooking, defrost frozen cherries in the microwave. You can also do this on the stove in a small sauce pot. The cherries will release a lot of juice.
- Mix together shredded coconut, reduced coconut cream and defrosted cherries with their juice. Use a small ice cream scoop, about a tablespoon, and scoop mixture onto parchment-lined cookie sheet. It will make about 25.
- Pop into the freezer for 2-3 hours, preferably overnight.
- Once the candies are set, heat 2 inches of water to a simmer in a medium sauce pot.
- Place 1 cup of chocolate chips in a double boiler over the simmer. Stir occasionally until chocolate melts.
- Use a candy thermometer and remove the chocolate from heat when it reaches 115 degrees. Keep stirring for another minute and then add the remaining chocolate chips. Stir until melted.
- Remove cherry candies two at a time from the freezer. Dip into the chocolate and flip until completely covered. Place onto another parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Once you have coated all the candies, return to freezer for an hour then store in fridge.
Enjoy!
x Vanessa
