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Beer Soaked Chocolate Covered Cherries

Last week I was able to sit down with a guy, who in just two years went from a home brewer who was opening the doors to his first bar, to owning three bars and the fastest growing craft brewery in California.

If you live in Los Angeles, and you’re a craft beer fan, I’m certain you have heard of Tony Yanow of Golden Road. If you haven’t you are going to want to acquaint yourself with him and what he’s building. Here is my article for your craft beer research indulgence.

He is also the man who helped create one of my favorite IPA’s. Golden Roads, Point The Way IPA.

As I’ve hammered into you several times before, IPA’s make terrible cooking subject, which is why I rarely use them. This is a recipe that doesn’t require cooking, and the tart hoppiness of the IPA is a great compliment to the cherries.

And, as a salute to my fellow beer lovers who happen to be vegan (more vegan beer fans exist than one would expect) this is an easy recipe to veganize.

IPA Soaked Chocolate Covered Cherries (vegan option)

2 cups fresh Bing cherries, pitted

1 cup IPA

8 oz Dark Chocolate (60%) (For vegan, use vegan chocolate. Most higher end brands are vegan at 60%, but make sure to check if you want to make sure)

Pit the cherries and add them to a loaf pan in one tight layer. Pour the IPA over the cherries and allow to soak at room temperature for 2 hours and up to 6. Drain and allow to dry for about 20 minutes (they need to be dry before chocolate gets involved).

To temper the chocolate: (*Note. Tempering chocolate makes it shiny and gives it a nice snap. If you don’t care so much about that, you can just add the chocolate to a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until melted)

In a double boiler melt the chocolate over medium heat. If you don’t have a double boiler, add a metal bowl over a pot of water, making sure the bottom of the metal bowl does not come in contact with the water in the pot.

Chop the chocolate into chunks and add about half to the top of the double boiler. Heat the chocolate to 115 degrees (use a clip-on candy thermometer to do this). Add the rest of the chocolate and stir until all of the chocolate has melted and is now down to about 90 degrees.

A few at a time, add the cherries to the chocolate with a fork, roll around until coated, remove with the fork and allow to drain a bit, then place on a piece of parchment paper to harden. Repeat for all cherries. Chill until ready to serve.

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Comments


juliakrystine June 19, 2012 um 6:28 pm

I’m a terrible beer enthusiast. My tolerance of it barely started in the last few years, and I’m only just now starting to actually appreciating it. I seriously love all your beer knowledge you pass on!
Looooooove this super duper simple recipe too!

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Lauren June 19, 2012 um 7:07 pm

What an awesome idea! I definitely want to try this out!

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Eileen June 19, 2012 um 11:10 pm

Oh my! this may have to happen in the near future–especially because I already have a bag of cherries just hanging around waiting for me to do something with them. 🙂

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Jaye July 24, 2012 um 7:56 am

Ditto!!

We just got a 1.5lb bag of sweet dark cherries and I cannot WAIT to suggest this.

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Averie @ Averie Cooks June 20, 2012 um 9:04 am

gorgeous and what a great idea! I once made oatmeal raisin cookies with rum-soaked raisins. I love your cherry-soaking idea. Saw these on FG, too 🙂

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sippitysup June 20, 2012 um 3:53 pm

Love Golden Road. But do they know about these cherries? They belong on the menu. PS We are FoodGawker neighbors today! See ya Sat. GREG

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Oh My Veggies (@ohmyveggies) June 20, 2012 um 7:45 pm

These are calling my name! I love chocolate covered cherries, but not the cloyingly sweet ones–I am loving that you didn’t add any sugar to this recipe!

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thebakeandbrew June 23, 2012 um 4:15 pm

Zoinks! These look delectable!

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Laura June 25, 2012 um 6:11 pm

These sound great. Think I might go with Dogfish’s 90 Min, or maybe even bust out the big guns and go 120 IPA. They’re both uber-sweet. Looking forward to trying!

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Reema July 1, 2012 um 9:23 pm

I made these last night for my birthday party! I went for Orval instead of an IPA.. it was phenomenal.

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Daria B. July 18, 2012 um 4:11 pm

recently came across your blog and have been reading every post. i want to express my admiration of your writing skill and how great the cooking with beer recipes are. I’m sucked in every week!

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Eddy W July 19, 2012 um 3:21 am

with this i disagree about IPA’s because I always love them. I think this seem perfect with cherries, will try this.

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Cleo July 19, 2012 um 7:56 am

it is really informative about cooking with beer. I love to cook with beer.

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Jeanne June 29, 2014 um 10:00 pm

I’ve been drooling over these pics and waiting for cherry season to try this! I saw you also did a bourbon soaked chocolate covered cherries recipe at Food52. Which version did you prefer, the bourbon or IPA?

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Jackie June 29, 2014 um 10:51 pm

They are just different. I like bourbon cherries a lot, I’ve even let them sit for a week, makes them really intense.

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Christy November 17, 2016 um 12:18 pm

If I can’t get fresh cherries, would frozen or jarred dark morello work?

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Jackie November 17, 2016 um 3:14 pm

I haven’t tried either of those, but if you go that route make sure to dry the cherries really, really well or the chocolate won’t stick.

Reply

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