Homemade Cocktail Cherries

Name: Homemade Cocktail Cherries
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 10100 min
Ingredients: 1 cup tart cherry juice; 1 cup sugar; 1 split vanilla bean and seeds; 0.25 cup Luxardo maraschino liqueur; 1 dried bay leaf; 2 cups pitted fresh sour cherries (or drained sour cherries in light syrup)

Be the first to rate & review!

By

Martha Stewart Test Kitchen

Updated on June 1, 2017

homemade cocktail cherries — Photo: Courtesy of Nikka

Prep Time:

20 mins

Total Time:

7 days 20 mins

Yield:

1 pint

Cheers to Dad! If your pop's the toast of the town, help him mix a sweet whiskey smash or a mean Manhattan with DIY cocktail cherries.

Ingredients

1 cup tart cherry juice
1 cup sugar
1 split vanilla bean and seeds
¼ cup Luxardo maraschino liqueur
1 dried bay leaf
2 cups pitted fresh sour cherries (or drained sour cherries in light syrup)

Directions

Boil cherry juice and sugar over medium-high heat with vanilla bean and seeds until reduced by half, about 8 minutes. Stir in Luxardo and bay leaf.
Pour mixture over cherries.
Cool, seal, and refrigerate at least 1 week.

Cook's Notes

Partner up a jar with a bottle of nice whiskey (we like Nikka Coffey Grain; $65, astorwines.com) -- for a gift that only gets better with age, just like you-know-who.

Originally appeared: Martha Stewart Living, June 2017