Re-ignite the summer feeling once the weather cools by keeping a jar of Cinnamon Bourbon Cherries on standby. These cherries will liven up dessert, garnish your weekend cocktail or make the perfect edible gift.
Use them in place of cocktail cherries in my bourbon Black Forest cocktail.
Prepare yourself. I’m about to start declaring my undying love for cherries again.
When a love is so deep and pure as the love I have for fresh, ripe, dark & beautiful cherries, I find it hard to accept that they are in season for just 6 weeks of the year. Yes – just 6 weeks.
It’s just not fair.
Fortunately for me, my local farmshop does stock frozen cherries year-round. And I do regularly use them to make cherry smoothies and cherries Jubilee for to top thin pancakes Little-Chef-style. compotes.
But when cherry season hits, I do like to make something with the fresh produce so that I can dive into it when the weather turns chilly in the autumn. My obvious salvation is cherry jam, but this year I’ve also put aside a jar of Cinnamon Bourbon Cherries.
How to make spiced bourbon cherries
These cinnamon bourbon cherries are as straightforward and alcoholic as they sound: fresh, pitted cherries are cooked briefly in sweetened bourbon and gently infused with cinnamon spice.
Honestly, follow these easy steps and you’ll have a jar in no time:
- Put the sugar and cinnamon into a small saucepan and pour the Bourbon over it. Gently heat to dissolve the sugar then bring up to hot but not boiling
- Add the pitted cherries and cook for 5 minutes
- Take off the heat and transfer the cherries to a sterilised jar, wedging the cinnamon into the middle as you fill it
- Ensure that the cherries are well packed and fill the jar to the top with the bourbon syrup, making sure that all of the cherries are completely submerged
- Seal and leave to cool down then store in the fridge
When treats like these spiced bourbon cherries are this simple to make, I say life is sweet.
If you are planning on using the cherries purely to garnish cocktails, feel free to omit the cinnamon to make the flavour more universal.
How to remove cherry stones without a pitter
If you don’t happen to own a cherry pitter, fear not. The Flavor Bender has an innovative way to remove those pesky cherry stones using a piping nozzle (and a divine recipe for Kahlua Cherry Ice Cream – sigh, sigh, sigh). Hop over to see what Dini does.
Once bottled these Cinnamon Bourbon Cherries will keep for several months, making them the perfect late autumn treat or edible gift.
Bonus: the flavour of these cherries will keep on developing the longer they are left.
Spiced bourbon cherries don’t need much in the way of company (just me and a spoon). A slice of undecorated vanilla sponge cake to soak up that intoxicating liquid and a little splodge of cream will set your dessert repertoire on fire.
It feels good to know that I have my secret love tenderly tucked away in a little jar ready for the autumn. And with a pot of Amaretto Pears also sitting primly in my fridge, I feel I’m doing fruit justice right now. Of course, my mind is now in overdrive concocting more fruit-alcohol marriages to make before the summer is out. If you have a good combination, let me know – I have plenty more jars to fill.
More cherry recipes
Take a look through all of my easy & delicious fruit recipes, but if it’s more cherry recipes you are after here are a few ideas:
Have you made these cinnamon bourbon cherries? Let me see by tagging #littlesugarsnaps on Instagram when you upload your picture.
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📖 Recipe
Cinnamon Bourbon Cherries
Ingredients
- 300 g/ 1 ⅓ cup Fresh cherres
- 240 ml/ 1 cup Bourbon
- 60 g/ ¼ cup White sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick (about 10cm/ 4 inches in length) – optional
Instructions
- Pit the cherries
- Put the sugar and cinnamon into a small saucepan and pour the Bourbon over it. Gently heat to dissolve the sugar then bring up to almost boiling
- Add the cherries and cook for 5 minutes. take off the heat
- Transfer the cherries to a sterilised jar, wedging the cinnamon into the middle as you fill it. Ensure that the cherries are well packed and fill to the top with the bourbon syrup. Ensure that all of the cherries are completely submerged. Seal and leave to cool down
- Store in the fridge – they will keep for several months
- If you have plenty of liquid left once the jar has been filled, return the liquid to the heat and boil until reduced by half. Allow to cool then use the syrup to top vanilla ice cream
Jenni
Wow! So awesome that just a handful of ingredients can yield something so delicious. On my list!
Jane Saunders
Thanks so much Jenni – I can’t wait for cherry season to arrive so I can stock up. Who knows, I might develop another flavour too – watch this space!
Rochelle
Hi Jenny. I’m going to make a batch of this for my Aunt and Uncle on the west coast. My question is, may I use red hots candy for both the flavor and the heat?Thanks in advance.
Jane Saunders
Hi Rochelle – no worries about the name – it came through as a masked muffle 🙂
To be honest, I think using these candies would give a very different result as the cinnamon offers a sweet, gentle spice note, rather than tonnes of heat. Sadly, it’s not something I’m able to try out to advise on further as we don’t get those candies here in the UK. If you decide to try it out I’d love to know how it turns out.
Rochelle
Oops, so embarassed. Jane not Jenny?. I figured you just couldn’t hear me through my mask?