A maraschino cherry surrounded by a soft, sweet center, and covered in chocolate.
Drain cherries well, reserving juice. Combine butter, powdered sugar, almond extract and 2 Tablespoons reserved maraschino cherry juice. Mix well. I start with my mixer and when the mixture looks crumbly, I knead it together with my hands. If too stiff, add additional maraschino cherry juice, 1 teaspoon at a time. You want the dough to be fairly stiff and not very sticky. If it is too sticky, knead in additional powdered sugar.
Pinch off a piece of the dough and wrap it around each cherry. You want to be sure to cover each cherry thoroughly but you don't want the dough to be too thick. Roll each cherry gently into a ball.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight
For the coating: Melt chocolate and shortening together in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring every 30 seconds. When chocolate is almost melted, stop heating it and continue stirring until smooth.
Dip each cold cherry into the chocolate mixture, allowing the excess to drip off. Place on a waxed paper lined baking sheet and refrigerate until set. Store in the refrigerator in a covered container. These will keep several weeks in the refrigerator (if they last that long!)
You may have a little of the dough left after wrapping around the cherries. Save it in the refrigerator in case you need to patch a cherry before dipping. Occasionally, the cherry juice will seep through the dough and leave a hole. Patch the hole before dipping in the chocolate, otherwise the chocolate won't stick.
This is just barely enough chocolate to dip all the cherries in, meaning the last few may look a little rough. (Those are the ones to sample!) However, if you are heavy handed with the chocolate, you may want to melt an additional cup of chocolate chips and an additional Tablespoon of shortening.
Chocolate Covered Cherries https://www.dogwoodsanddandelions.com/homemade-chocolate-covered-cherries/