I think every cheese or charcuterie board needs something unexpected, whether it's cheese rolled in charcoal (you need signage for that cheese!), a unique vegetable or some exotic fruits and nuts. These unexpected items or pairings add interest and intrigue to a gathering.
The unexpected item on my recent Heartfelt Sweet and Savoury Charcuterie Board (here), was Chocolate Cherry Mice that I placed on the board to look like they were nibbling on the various cheeses!
I saw these cute Chocolate Cherry Mice on a Food Network episode of The Kitchen (here) and fell in love. Aren't they fabulous?
I adapted the original recipe and added little heart candy decorations for eyes to make them more seasonal (Valentine's Day). However, you could use silver or pearl dragées like the original recipe calls for, if you are making them for other occasions and events throughout the year.
For the mice, I used a combination of Hershey Hugs and Kisses for the heads. Feel free to use whatever colour or flavour you like best!
The body of the mice is made from a chocolate dipped maraschino cherry. Make sure you look for a bottle that has cherries with the stems still intact. The first few shops I looked for the cherries only had cherries with no-stems.
Fresh cherries (when they are available or in season) would be amazing for these little mice in place of bottled maraschino cherries!
I hope you enjoy these cute Chocolate Cherry Mice as much as I did - I guarantee they will be a hit on your next charcuterie or cheese board!
Happy Boarding,
Krista
Chocolate Cherry "Cheese" Mice
Ingredients
10 maraschino cherries with stems
2-3 oz chocolate, chopped (I used dark chocolate chips)
1 tablespoon coconut oil (you can omit this, however you need to allow the chocolate much more time to set)
10 chocolate kisses or hugs, unwrapped
20 sliced almonds
20 small heart candies (or 20 pearl dragées)
*small tweezers to apply the eyes
Method
Place maraschino cherries into a strainer and rinse well. Pat cherries dry with a paper towel and lay flat to completely dry.
Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a microwave safe dish add chocolate and coconut oil and heat on medium temperature for 30 seconds. Stir mixture. If lumps remain, continue to microwave in 10 second intervals and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. A double boiler process to melt the chocolate would also work here.
Holding the cherry by the stem, dip into the bowl os melted chocolate, rolling to coat entire cherry. Allow excess chocolate to drain off. Place cherry onto the parchment lined baking sheet, on it's side (the "tail" stem should be pointing either right or left). Repeat with all remaining cherries. Place baking sheet into a refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes to set chocolate. If you are not using coconut oil in the chocolate mixture this will take longer, around 1-2 hours.
Once chocolate has hardened remove baking sheet from fridge. If melted chocolate mixture has hardened, re-melt using same process as above. Take one chocolate kiss, dip the flat side into the melted chocolate (the glue), allow excess to drip off and then place onto the non-stem side of the cherry. Hold in place to set and with your other hand, add two sliced almonds between the cherry and the kiss, for ears. Repeat with remaining dipped cherries.
Using a toothpick, add two tiny drops of melted chocolate to the kiss and using tweezers attach two heart candies or dragées for eyes. Repeat on remaining mice.
Place completed mice back onto the baking sheet and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes to harden all chocolate.
Remove from refrigerator before serving. Mice can be kept refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Image above: A second charcuterie board example for how to display Cheese Mice.
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