Chocolate-covered Cherry Macaroons – GF, CF, RSF, DF, Vegan, Raw

cherryChocMacaroons
The best of both worlds—raw macaroons and chocolate covered cherries!

I intended to do an anti-candida friendly version of Hail Merry’s raw chocolate macaroons. Then, as usual, things took a twist. The fresh cherry provides a tart juiciness that perfectly offsets the dense chewiness of the raw macaroon filling.

It’s got cherries, chocolate, chia seeds and coconut! Today’s recipe is brought to you by the letter “C”. 🙂

Originally I added dried cherries to bump up the flavor so that the (reduced) sweetness wouldn’t be missed. Then it occurred to me that I could add chia seeds for additional protein. After that it was a no-brainer to soak the chia seeds in unsweetened cherry juice. It was good but the cherry flavor was muted by the coconut chia mixture.

macaroonCherries
Cherries coated in the macaroon mixture

I kept channeling my mom’s love of chocolate-covered cherries—the ones that have the overly sweet white stuff that gushes out when you take a bite. So I decided to skip the dried cherries and wrap the macaroon filling around a fresh pitted cherry.

I left the stems on. I think they look cute and it made it easier to coat in the chocolate.

Are cherries out of season?

pittedCherries
I pitted the cherries thru the side so that I could keep the stems on.

Frozen cherries would also work. I would wrap them in the macaroon filling while frozen. It’ll just be less messy.

You could also skip the cherry and have a just a macaroon filling. You’ll want to adjust the sweetness to compensate though.

5.0 from 9 reviews
Chocolate-covered Cherry Macaroons - GF, CF, RSF, DF, EF
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Anti-candida diet friendly chocolate covered cherry macaroons
Author:
Serves: 32
Ingredients
  • 1 lb fresh cherries, pitted
  • 80g (1 cup) shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 17g (1.5 tbsp) chia seeds
  • 2 tbsps unsweetened cherry juice
  • 1.5 tbsps coconut oil
  • 4 tbsps coconut sugar
  • stevia, to taste
  • ¼ tsp ground vanilla powder or extract
  • ⅛ tsp salt
  • 113g (4 oz) unsweet baking chocolate
Instructions
  1. Soak the chia seeds in the cherry juice for 30 minutes.
  2. Add the chia mixture, coconut, coconut oil, 2 tbsps coconut sugar, vanilla, and salt into a food processor and process until well mixed, scraping down the sides as necessary.
  3. Taste the macaroon mixture and add stevia for additional sweetness, if necessary.
  4. Take one tablespoon of macaroon mixture and press it around each pitted cherry.
  5. Chill in the freezer or fridge.
  6. Melt the baking chocolate over low heat and add 2 tbsps of coconut sugar. The chocolate coating will be ready once the sugar has dissolved.
  7. Dip and swirl each macaroon coated cherry in the chocolate and rest on a parchment covered baking sheet.
  8. Chill in the freezer or fridge. Store in an airtight container, in the fridge or freezer.

 

Bonus: Chocolate-covered Cherries

chocCherries
Juicy chocolate covered cherries

I took the leftover chocolate and dipped pitted cherries in them sans macaroon filling. OMG. They’re even better than chocolate-dipped strawberries. I swear! Cherries are inherently juicier. Biting into a chocolate-covered cherry has all of the goodness of the boxed chocolate-covered cherries but without the nasty oozy sugar sludge inside.

Please keep these in the refrigerator. I don’t know how long they’ll stay fresh in there. Good luck keeping them longer than a day! I know I’ve found a reason to grab one each time I opened the fridge today. Thankfully they’re made of healthy in-season ingredients.

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52 Responses to Chocolate-covered Cherry Macaroons – GF, CF, RSF, DF, Vegan, Raw

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