Chocolate Covered Cherries, Part 1

Yep, you read that title right. In honor of the holidays--or for whatever reason you'd make these, like "it's Monday and raining"--here are the classic candies, a fine finish to any meal.

We're going to start by making a fondant. Ready?

First, lightly butter a heat-safe 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

Next, mix 3 cups sugar, 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon water, and 1/4 cup light corn syrup in a medium pan set over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely--then continue cooking, stirring once in a while, until the mixture comes to a low simmer.

Clip a candy thermometer to the inside of the pan and continue cooking the syrup WITHOUT STIRRING until the temperature registers 240F (soft ball stage). Be very obsessive right now. You're making fondant.

Which is actually many things, not one. There are all sorts of fondants (or "bases") in candies. This is the gooey kind found in chocolate covered cherries or inside cream candies. It's not the kind used to make icings.

The moment the mixture hits the right temperature, pour it into the prepared baking pan. Set it aside until the bottom of the pan feels lukewarm to the touch, perhaps about 10 minutes, maybe longer, depending on how cool your kitchen is.

Now for the hard part. (Bribe a teenager.) Stir this lukewarm mixture until it forms a ball. You'll see that it comes up off the baking pan fairly easily at first--and then starts to get stuck as it firms up. And "firms up" it will! Wow. Talk about a shoulder work-out. (Bruce has broken a wooden spoon or two at this task!) It'll start to turn opaque, then white, cooling down--and suddenly, bang, it's a hard white ball.

This is the fondant. But it's unworkable, as hard as a rock. We have to solve that again--and since it's candy we're making, the solution always involves heat or water--to change the molecular composition of the sugar once again.

This time, seal the fondant in a plastic bag. Squeeze out almost all the air and seal the bag tightly. Set it aside for 2 minutes. In this time, the residual heat will begin to soften the fondant.

Now the second hard part, the second time you need to bribe a teenager. Knead the fondant in the sealed bag until it turns into the consistency of thick, pasty cookie dough, between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on the day's ambient humidity and other difficult factors (like how much moisture the sugar has absorbed as it's sat on your pantry shelf).

And that's that. You've made the fondant. Set it in the fridge for up to 1 week before you set to the next part, the cherries and the chocolate.