Why I love this cherry bombs recipe
These boozy cherry bombs are one of my favorite easy treats to make for a 4th of July party.
The cherries soak up the vodka overnight, then get dipped in white chocolate and blue sanding sugar for a fun red, white and blue finish that always disappears fast from the dessert table.
They’re the perfect combination of sweet, boozy and festive, and they add a fun little surprise to your holiday spread.
Plus, if you save the cherry-flavored vodka after soaking the cherries, it’s delicious mixed into summer cocktails or adult Shirley Temples later on.
Looking for more 4th of July desserts? You'll love Patriotic Popcorn and 4th Of July Cakesicles.
Ingredients
Here is your shopping list (for 24 cherries):
Substitutions & Additions
- Swap the vodka for rum for a tropical twist.
- Or skip the alcohol altogether to make a family-friendly version.
How to make patriotic cherry bombs
1 | Soak the cherries
Drain the maraschino cherries. Reserve the cherry juice for Shirley Temples or some other recipe, if desired.
Add 2 cups vodka to the cherries in the drained jar.
Place the jar in your refrigerator and let it sit for at least eight hours or overnight so the cherries soak up all that flavor.
Pour the cherries through a strainer to separate them from the liquid.
And remember to save that delicious cherry-flavored vodka for later if you want.
Lay the cherries out on paper towels and gently pat them dry to remove any extra liquid left on their skins.
This step is super important, as dry cherries will help the chocolate stick much better than wet ones.
2 | Prep work
Pour your blue sanding sugar onto a flat plate or a shallow bowl to create a nice base for your dipping.
Line the baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper or waxed paper.
This will help to prevent the melted chocolate from sticking.
3 | Melt the white chocolate
Place your white chocolate pieces into a small bowl that is safe for the microwave.
Microwave for 30 seconds, remove from the microwave and stir.your chocolate.
Repeat until the white chocolate is completely melted.
4 | Assemble the cherries
Hold a cherry by its stem and dip it into the melted white chocolate until about half of the fruit is coated.
Gently tap the cherry against the side of the bowl to let the extra chocolate drip off, leaving you with a clean, even layer.
This prevents a messy pool of chocolate from forming on your tray.
While the chocolate is still wet, dip the bottom part of the cherry into the blue sugar so you have a beautiful pattern showing the red cherry, a white stripe, and the blue sugar.
Work quickly so the white chocolate doesn’t harden before you add the sugar.
Place your finished cherry onto a the baking sheet and let it harden.
Repeat these steps until all your cherries are ready.
If the chocolate starts to harden before you are finished, repeat the same microwaving steps from above until it is melted again.
How to make ahead
To make the cherries more than a couple of hours ahead of time, you will need to do 2 coats of white chocolate. Otherwise the cherry juice will bleed through.
To do this:
- Soak the cherries in vodka and dry as above.
- Dip them in the melted white chocolate and let harden.
- Then dip in another batch of white chocolate and add the blue sprinkles.
- Let the white chocolate harden.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Cherry Bombs
Ingredients
- 16 ounces maraschino cherries with stems, drained
- 2 cups vodka
- 6 ounces white chocolate candy melts
- Blue sanding sugar
Equipment
- strainer
- small microwave-safe bowl
- shallow bowl or plate
- parchment-lined baking sheet
Instructions
- Drain the maraschino cherries. Reserve the cherry juice for Shirley Temples or some other recipe, if desired.
- Add the vodka to the cherries in the drained jar.
- Store in the fridge for a minimum of eight hours or overnight.
- Strain the cherries, reserving the cherry-flavored vodka, if desired.
- Dry the cherries by patting with paper towels to remove the excess liquid.
- Pour the blue sanding sugar in a shallow bowl or plate.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the white chocolate candy melts in 30 second intervals stirring between batches until smooth.
- Dip the cherry into the melted white chocolate by the stem, covering about half of the cherry.
- Gently tap off the excess white chocolate along the edge of the bowl.
- Immediately dip the bottom of the cherry into the blue sanding sugar covering about half of the white chocolate. You want a little bit of the red cherry, a white stripe and then the blue sugar to all be visible.
- Set on a parchment-lined baking sheet to harden.
- Repeat until all of the cherries have been coated.
Notes
- For a more tropical flavor, replace the vodka with rum.
- You can also skip soaking the cherries in alcohol for a family-friendly treat.
- The cherries should be served within a couple of hours or the cherry juice will start to bleed through the white chocolate.
- If you wish to make them a day or two in advance, coat them with 2 layers of white chocolate, letting the chocolate dry completely before adding the second one.
Nutrition
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
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