Chocolate Mice, a Surefire Win for Your Sweetheart.

by Chomblebrown

6.0K3516

Intro: Chocolate Mice, a Surefire Win for Your Sweetheart.

This is an instructable for Beck's chocolate-covered cherry mice - easy to make, and will have much more of an effect than those boxes of chocolates at extortion-level prices.

A whole mess of these will run you maybe $15

... Beck is the name of the elderly German woman who showed me this so long ago...

STEP 1: Ingredients:

To create the little buggers you will need:

Stemmed maraschino cherries (I actually had to do some looking to find ones with stems)
Sliced Almonds
white decorative frosting (squeeze-tube applicators make it go MUCH faster)
Chocolate of your choice - I went to the local confectionery and scored some of theirs, chocolate chips will do... Cheaper chocolates will not melt as well
Hersey's Kisses or 'kiss'-shaped chocolate (not the fancy stripy kinds)

Stove
double burner

STEP 2: Melting the Chocolate

If you have a double boiler, great. If not, one can be improvised in any decently-stocked kitchen.

Alternatively, microwave at your own risk. It's possible but again, it needs interim stirring so you don't overcook it.

The basic concept is: one pot holds water, which disburses the heat to the second container, which nestles in the first pot and sits with its bottom in the water, but no direct contact with the larger pan's hot bottom. This process is a veritable must for well-dipped chocolates, since it burns easily.

Put the double boiler on the stove's lowest setting and give the water some time to heat up. Add the chocolate. Be sure not to get any moisture in the chocolate, since it makes little lumps which detract from the overall presentation.

Alternatively, microwave at your own risk. It's possible but again, it needs interim stirring so you don't overcook it.

STEP 3: Prep

While your chocolate is heating up, take the time to pair up similarly-sized slices of almonds to make good ears.
unwrap some Kisses
and dry off the cherries

get a surface ready to accept the candies. I suggest tinfoil, since it is easily peeled off of the hardened chocolate.

Once the chocolate is looking smooth (you'll have to stir as even melted chocolate retains its shape), you're ready for dippin!

STEP 4: Dip It

Dip the cherries into the chocolate, dragging them stem-first to get a complete coat. Pull them up by the stem and put a kiss' flat side on the bottom to catch the excess chocolate, and put them on the foil. The chocolate will remain viscous for some time, so you can turn off the heat if you so wish.

Take your pairs of almond slices and nestle them behind the 'head' of the mouse. Its hard to tell from the picture, but you can add subtlety in the position of the ears - like one is kind of lopped over, the one in the foreground's ears is perked up, etc.

Throw these bad boys in the fridge and wait 5-10 minutes.

STEP 5: Finalize

Take your frosting and apply small dabs to the tip of the kiss, and two more above it for eyes, until you have something like this.

STEP 6: And the Rest Is History.

Present them as you see fit. Be prepared to be the recipient of many a smooch.

16 Comments

Meursydotes 9 years ago

I have made these several times before too. This year we decided to try pumpkin spice mice, which were sitting on pumpkin spice flavored oreos, had pumpkin spice hershey kiss heads, and pumpkin spice slivers of candy corn for ears. I've tried several things to replace the almond slivers for ears in the past (we have a nut allergy in the family), but so far slivers of candy corn is my favorite since the color change is kind of neat.

Meursydotes 9 years ago

I've also switched to using cherries that are already de-stemmed to make the whole mouse edible, which is why my mice have their tails drawn onto the cookies.

favrewife 15 years ago

I make these every year, they're a huge hit, I saw it on some kids program. One hint to keep the chocolate from clumping or hardening to fast (in the pot) is to coat the bottom of the pan with oil (i use vegetable), like one cap full and then mix in the melting chocolates.

shortone 16 years ago

This is great! I used this as the subject matter for my how-to speech in my speech class...definately a hit! a few variations for anyone interested: a way to make them even cuter is to 1st make white eye spots, then add dark or milk chocolate dots for the pupils...use a toothpick and be careful! I put mine near the top of the white spot-it gives the illusion of the mouse looking innocently up at you. On a few of my mice, I also drew eyebrows with white chocolate to make them look scared... they were diagonal lines that were higher in the middle and lower on the sides if that makes any sense. You can also double dip...just dip the cherry in one kind of chocolate (say, white chocolate), let it harden, then dip it in another kind (like milk chocolate) but only halfway and continue to finish decorating it to look like a mouse...gives the illusion of a mouse with a cute little white butt! haha my class loved those ones. And I haven't tried it, but for someone who likes white chocolate, I think it would be cute to find white-chocolate kiss-like candies and make an all-white mouse... Sorry, I'm sort of rambling on now...

Chomblebrown 15 years ago

hee hee white chocolate kiss like candies

Granny_Leah 16 years ago

The green is melted green Wilton candy melts. They come in many colors, but all except the brown (chocolate) ones are vanilla. You can buy them at any Michael's, JoAnne Fabrics, or anywhere they sell cake decorating stuff for holidays. A little goes a long way.

Granny_Leah 16 years ago

Well heck, how do I add the silly picture?

Chomblebrown 16 years ago

well done! What may I ask is the green on the oreo?

Granny_Leah 16 years ago

I make these at Christmas time, using Wilton's candy melts for dipping the cherries, and putting them on a dipped Oreo. Always a crowd-pleaser!

sensoryhouse 16 years ago

please remove from craft and place it in the food category where it belongs

Chomblebrown 16 years ago

um... food is first category, thanks

GorillazMiko 16 years ago

Cute-- but yummy! Awesome job, very nicely done! +1 rating. (added to favorites)

acaz93 16 years ago

i'm perplex , definitely +1