Tasty Tuesday … Homemade Cherry Bounce

by incahootswithmuddyboots
April 26, 2016
33 comments
Cooking, Photography, Tasty Tuesday ..., Uncategorized, Vegan Dishes, Vegetarian Cooking

Early last summer I bought a giant bag of perfectly ripe dark cherries at my favorite farmers market. We ate quite a few of them fresh, made a delicious cherry-almond crumble…  And despite all that, we still had so many cherries left!

With Google’s help, I found numerous creative ideas for the use of those cherries. The one that really peeked my curiosity was a recipe for homemade cherry bounce, something I was not familiar with. Next came finding a recipe or combination of several to suit my taste! There were as many takes on how to make this liqueur as there must be cherry trees in this country.

A trip to the liquor store was needed to procure a bottle of bourbon.  On the advise of the lady at the liquor store I left in the pits. She said whole cherries stay firmer and can be dipped in chocolate and frozen once the infusion was ready to be strained.
Who am I to argue with that!!

With the cherries in the glass jar, I added sugar, put the lid on and gave the jar a through shake to distribute the sugar evenly. Then I left this sitting on the counter for a few hours. Finally, I covered everything with the bourbon. For the next couple of weeks, I had the jar out on the counter so I’d remember to shake the cherry bounce every day. After that, I put it into a dark, cool closet and left it alone until late November. Once strained and filtered, I poured it into a clean, empty growler and of course, had a taste.

My cherry bounce turned out perfect! Smooth, not too sweet and very flavorful.

Surprisingly, the drained cherries were as firm as they were when I first bought them in early July. The only difference was that they now were boozy. I dried them off a bit and froze them in airtight containers. When I made my Black Forest bread around Christmas time, I used some of those instead of maraschino cherries. Yummy!

Next time I make this, I will leave on the stems to make dipping them in chocolate easier!

With cherry season just around the corner, I hope you’ll give this a try!

 

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1 pound cherries, washed and dried
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 5 cups bourbon

Sort the cherries and don’t use any with bruises or bad spots.
Combine the cherries and sugar in a large, clean sealable glass jar.
Let it sit for a few hours.
Pour the whisky over the cherries and put the lid on the jar.
Shake every day for a week or two.
Store in a cool dark place for about 4 to 5 months.
Shake it up whenever you remember.
Drain through a sieve and reserve the cherries.
Filter the cherry bounce trough a paper filter, pour it into a clean glass bottle and store in a cool dark place.

The cherries can be frozen for use in baking, chopped finely with a little bounce and used as an topping for ice cream, and dipped in melted chocolate and then frozen.

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My passions in life are vegetarian cooking, gardening, photography, writing, good books, traveling and nature. Thanks for stopping by, Sabine

33 thoughts on “Tasty Tuesday … Homemade Cherry Bounce”

  2. Missy says:

    Wow! I’m guessing you’d get quite a “bounce” from sipping this. Love cherries, love a little liqueur – this means, I will need to save this recipe. Thanks bunches!

    Liked by 1 person

    • incahootswithmuddyboots says:

      Hi Missy! It’s a perfect sip-a-little after dinner kind of treat. I will definitely make another batch during cherry season. I might make a little extra to give away around Christmas time. 😊

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Anne Strasser says:

    As always your recipe looks delicious! Now we just have to wait for the cherries to come in. I hadn’t ever seen a recipe that uses bourbon to make a liqueur and I am excited to try it and then use those cherries in the black forest cake. Talk about delayed gratification though!

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. LuAnne Holder says:

    Glad I bookmarked this post! Cherries are now in season here in MI and I got a bunch at the produce market today. I’ll be commenting again in November I hope. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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  9. LuAnne Holder says:

    I keep revisiting this post! My cherry bounce is in the basement and I have tried to be patient! If Hillary wins tonight, though, I think I am going to celebrate with a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with cherry bounce. Yeah!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. LuAnne Holder says:

    Well, my cherry bounce still sits patiently on a shelf in my basement. I know I can’t wait for the next election 🙂 so maybe a Christmas treat and some chocolate covered happy cherries for my friends. I am still in shock.

    Liked by 1 person

    • incahootswithmuddyboots says:

      Still in shock here too! We went to a concert (William Fitzsimmons) on Thursday. It was a perfect distraction! The opening act was Laura Burhenn from the Mynabirds. She and her friends had baked a “p***y cake” to celebrate Hillary’s win. It didn’t work out that way, so they brought it along, candles and all. The mood was sober, but gentle and safe. Really good crowd of mostly younger people. Anyway, maybe Winter Solstice for your cherry bounce? Longest and darkest night of the year! We can only hope it will get lighter and better after that!
      We’ve been having demonstrations here every day, which unfortunately have put a bad light on Portland when they turned violent. I like the expressing your displeasure, but not the destruction. The fringe element getting involved is unfortunate.
      In the meantime, taste the bounce, and who knows, maybe today’s the day! 😊

      Like

  11. LuAnne Holder says:

    You are such an optimist. 🙂 I so appreciate that. I send blessings to your city. I suspect there are other dark forces turning the world violent. I think I should hold out on the bounce. Interesting times and I need to be at my best. Man, I wish I could stop crying. I need to wash my hair!!!

    Liked by 1 person

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