Chocolate Covered Cherries

These will have a more liquid filling with the cherry, which is what I prefer over the creamy filled kind.

Chocolate Covered Cherries

3 Cups Sugar
1/4 Cup Light Corn Syrup
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 Cup Water
1/4 cup butter ( not margarine)
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 TBS of reserved cherry juice for flavoring.
Candy Thermometer

You will also need:
2-3 8 ounce jars of maraschino cherries
2- 12 ounce bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 slab of wax

Put cherries in a strainer/sieve for several hours to drain well. Be sure to reserve 2 TBS of the cherry juice.

Combine first 4 ingredients and the reserved cherry juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and cover for 3 minutes so steam will wash down sugar crystals. Uncover and cook until it reached 238 degrees, stirring occasionally. Rinse a large heat proof platter or pan with water. Pour onto platter. Do not scrape the saucepan. Cool to lukewarm, then beat the candy with a wooden spoon until it turns white and creamy. If it suddenly turns hard and seems to set, knead until it becomes pliable again. Knead in the vanilla.

As soon as possible, after preparing candy, you need to begin shaping it... Roll a ball of the candy, about the size of a large marble. Now, flatten the ball, place a cherry in the center, and pinch the candy around the cherry to cover it. It is important to get the cherry completely covered. Put the candy covered cherries on wax paper and let stand until a crust forms. This takes about 1.5 hours. Melt the chocolate and wax in a double boiler. You can improvise with a bowl placed over a pot of boiling water, if needed. Dip each candy in the chocolate to cover. Place on a cookie sheet or other sturdy surface that has been covered with wax paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Dip in chocolate again. Once these have set up ( chocolate has hardened) place in an airtight container in the refrigerator. These need to be left to "ripen" for a week or so. The bit of juice that is left in the cherries will liquefy the candy the cream candy that is covering them. This recipe will make about 50-60 chocolate covered cherries.