Prepare an 8 or 9 inch square pan by lining it with two layers or foil and then gently spraying the foil with cooking spray or parchment paper, my favorite. You can just lightly grease the pan with cooking spray, but trust me the foil or parchment paper trick is so nice when lifting it from the pan.

Place 16 of the chocolate covered in the bottom of the prepared pan in 4x4 rows, see picture above for help.

In a large microwave safe bowl add butter and heat for 1 ½ minutes or until butter is completely melted.

Next, add sugar and half & half; stir until combined. Place in microwave and heat for 3 minutes. Then vigorously stir to combine, then cook another 2 minutes. Stir well while scraping down sides of bowl.

Return to microwave and cook for another 3 minutes. Stir once more and then heat another 2 ½ minutes.

TIP you may want to set the large bowl on a plate in case it boils over while heating. This happens every time and the plate makes less of a mess for me to pick up.

Immediately remove from microwave, then add marshmallow creme and stir.

Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Stir until smooth and well combined, no chunks. Immediately pour in prepared pan over chocolate covered cherries. Cut the remaining chocolate covered cherries in half and place on top of the fudge with center side up.

Tap the pan on the counter to work out the air bubbles. Cool completely until set. Use foil handles to lift fudge from pan before cutting into squares. I let mine set for 2-3 hours. Once cut into squares, trying to get the same 4x4 rolls that you laid out the chocolate covered cherries in, so that they are in the center of the fudge. Don’t stress if it doesn’t happen that way, it will still taste amazing and look fantastic too.

Store in an airtight container and set in fridge until ready to eat, serve or package up for friends and family.