Spiked Cherries

Cherries aren’t just for cocktail garnish anymore – with these spiked cherries you get your dessert and cocktail in one bite!

Why this recipe works

I can’t quite decide if these spiked cherries are a cocktail recipe or a dessert – but they are definitely fun to serve at parties. And they’re unbelievably easy to make, although you do want to get your cherries soaking in alcohol at least a day before you plan to make them.

You may have also heard them called boozy cherries or drunken cherries. Whatever you call them, these little alcohol-infused cherry bombs are such a fun twist on your regular cocktail or shot. What I love the most about them is that you can use any type of alcohol you want. You can even use them to garnish cocktails. I personally think they’d be amazing on top of these pineapple upside down cake shots if you plan on using vanilla vodka!

Ingredients you will need

Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version at the end of this post.

Ingredient Info and Substitution Suggestions

ALCOHOL – While I used Fireball (cinnamon whiskey), there are so many different fun options you can try out for this recipe like vanilla vodka (this is what we used in our video), rum, plain vodka, brandy, champagne, bourbon… Basically, if it would taste good served with a cherry, it would taste good in this recipe. I personally would avoid anything creamy like Bailey’s or Kahlua because it might affect the coloring and I don’t know if it would spoil if left soaking for more than a day.

CHOCOLATE – White chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or semi-sweet chocolate all work well. It comes down to preference. You can use chocolate chips, baking chocolate, chocolate wafers (candy melts), and even almond bark.

How to Make Spiked Cherries

These step by step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. You can Jump to Recipe to get the printable version of this recipe, complete with measurements and instructions at the bottom.

1. Pour out the juice from the maraschino cherries (you can save it to use as grenadine), keeping the cherries in the jar.
2. Fill up the cherry jar with your alcohol of choice. Soak at minimum overnight in the refrigerator.
3. Remove the cherries from the jar and let air dry on paper towels as you prepare your ingredients.
4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
5. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 25-second bursts until completely melted. Pour the sprinkles into a shallow bowl.
6. Pat the cherries dry with a paper towel if they are too wet before proceeding.
7. Dip the cherries into the melted candy coating and then dip halfway into the sprinkles.
8. Set the dipped cherries on your parchment paper and allow to dry.

Frequently Asked Questions & Expert Tips

Allow your cherries to soak at a minimum 6-8 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. You want the cherries to soak up as much of that alcohol as possible. Do note that the longer you let them soak, the stronger they will be. I have not tested soaking them for longer than 4 days, however, you can certainly do so as they will only soak up the alcohol to an extent (plus, alcohol works as a preservative).

Store chocolate-covered spiked cherries in an airtight container kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. These cherries can be enjoyed at room temperature as well, allowing them to sit at room temperature for a few hours will be fine, but if you prepped them in advance or are saving leftovers, I would suggest refrigerating them.

Yes, you can soak the cherries in advance, however, I would only recommend coating them in chocolate and sprinkles either the day of the event or the night before. This way the chocolate doesn’t sweat too much in the fridge.

It’s important that your cherries are dry before dipping them in chocolate. Any excess moisture will cause the chocolate to slip right off. When removing the cherries from the jar, place them on a paper towel-lined plate or baking sheet and gently pat them dry. Allow them to sit while you prep your ingredients and you shouldn’t have a problem with the chocolate slipping off.

These cherries can be quite strong for some. If you would rather them be a little more mild in taste, I would suggest filling the cherry jar with half alcohol and half maraschino cherry juice instead of soaking them entirely in alcohol.

Serving Suggestions

Spiked cherries are fun to serve at parties or around the holidays because you can easily switch up the color of chocolate and type of sprinkles you use to match just about any theme. For example, for the 4th of July you can dip the cherries in white chocolate and use red, white, or blue sprinkles to decorate them and so on so forth.

Use the leftover cherry juice that you poured out as grenadine as well as the alcohol-infused cherry juice to use in other cocktail recipes.

More Cocktail and Shot Recipes

• Blue Lagoon Cocktail
• Oreo Thin Min Shooters
• Blue Hawaiian Mai Tai
• Watermelon Malibu Slush
• Butterscotch Milkshake Cocktail
• Ice Cream Cone Rum Chata Shots
• Pineapple Upside Down Cake Shot

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This post originally appeared here on Nov 17, 2018 and has since been updated with new photos and expert tips.