Whether drizzled atop a slice of moist pound cake, spooned over fluffy shortcake, dolloped on top of cornbread, or poured over a scoop of rich and creamy ice cream, this sweet cherry dessert sauce is the perfect accompaniment to your favorite warm-weather desserts. With its perfect blend of fresh cherries, turbinado sugar, balsamic vinegar, and vanilla, this quick and easy fruit sauce is sure to satisfy your summer sweet tooth.
If you know me at all, you know that even though my oven and I have a love-hate relationship, that occasionally makes me cuss it up and down within an inch of its gas-powered life, I do, for the most part, actually adore baking. But in the summer months, there are just some days when it’s too dang hot to even consider cranking up the oven. As a wee thing, in the Delawder household, summer was always a great excuse to make simple, easy, no-fuss desserts. Ice cream was one of our all-time faves on a hot humid summer evening, followed by strawberry shortcakes of the store-bought sponge variety and fresh summer berries or melons. You would never have found a pound cake in our kitchen. I’d love to tell you that there’s a reason for that, however, if I’m being honest, it’s probably something as simple as the fact that it wasn’t something my mom liked to bake, something my dad liked to eat, or they just weren’t commonly found in our local market. Today, that’s no longer an issue. While searching our local store for pound cake to go with this sweet, fruity cherry sauce, I was utterly shocked to discover that not only did they have pound cake, but they also had lemon pound cake, chocolate pound cake, and blueberry pound cake. Now that I know that there are so many options, I guess I’ll be making dessert sauce more often so that the oven and I can continue to survive without any blood being drawn.
Ingredients:
- 3 Cups Pitted Sour Cherries (Approximately 1 Pound)
- 1/2 Cup Turbinado Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
Directions:
- In a medium stainless steel or non-reactive saucepan, bring the sour cherries, sugar, and balsamic vinegar to a rolling boil over high heat.
- When the sauce comes to a rolling boil, continue to cook the sauce for 10 minutes or until it has thickened, stirring often.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the sauce into a heat-safe glass container or jar.
- Once the sauce has cooled, place a lid on the container or jar and refrigerate until well chilled.
Suggestions:
- I used sour cherries for this recipe, however, you could also use traditional cherries in this recipe. The sauce will be a bit sweeter if you choose to use traditional cherries.
- Want to use frozen cherries for this recipe? Go for it. It will take the cherry mixture a longer time to come to a boil and you may have to add on a few minutes of cooking time due to a higher cherry moisture content.
- Warning. You will have to stir this sauce often to prevent it from sticking or burning. Towards the end of the cooking time, you will need to stir it constantly. This isn’t a recipe you should make if you are preoccupied with other things.
- Serve this sauce over pound cake, shortcake, cornbread, or ice cream.
- This sauce will last for at least a week if refrigerated. It can also be frozen for future use.
Improvements:
- Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the cherry sauce.
- Stir 1/2 cup of finely chopped chocolate into the cherry sauce.
- Serve this dessert sauce over this Birthday Buttered Rum Cake or this Flourless Chocolate Bundt Cake.
- Spoon this dessert sauce over this Buttermilk Double Vanilla Ice Cream or this Triple Chocolate Ricotta Ice Cream.
Ingredients:
- 3 Cups Pitted Sour Cherries (Approximately 1 Pound)
- 1/2 Cup Turbinado Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
Directions:
- In a medium stainless steel or non-reactive saucepan, bring the sour cherries, sugar, and balsamic vinegar to a rolling boil over high heat.
- When the sauce comes to a rolling boil, continue to cook the sauce for 10 minutes or until it has thickened, stirring often.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the sauce into a heat-safe glass container or jar.
- Once the sauce has cooled, place a lid on the container or jar and refrigerate until well chilled.
PIN THIS RECIPE
Don’t let this recipe slip away. How often do you find a recipe intriguing, yet forget where to find it when you finally get the hankering to make it? Instead of digging through old posts or wandering aimlessly around on the internet, why not Pin this recipe to Pinterest where you can find it when you eventually need it? Simply Pin the image above and you’ll have it when that time comes. You can follow us HERE on Pinterest or simply click HERE to find all of our pin-worthy recipes.
Brown Sugar Balsamic Summer Peach Sauce
Blueberry & Jalapeño Fruit Butter Spread
2019
Shrimp & Corn Salad with Chesapeake Seasoning
Peach Cobbler Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel
Lemony Summer Roasted Green Beans
2018
Fresh Blueberry Streusel Topped Crumb Cake
Sweet & Tangy Summer Garden Cucumbers
Make sure to check out all of the other great Farmer’s Market Week recipes below. A huge thanks to Jolene’s Recipe Journal for hosting this event.
- Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwiches by Jolene’s Recipe Journal
- Herb and Asiago Bread Sticks by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad by Blogghetti
- Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce by Cheese Curd In Paradise
- Mediterranean Pasta by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Summer Gazpacho by Palatable Pastime
- “Sun”sational Sunshine Platter by Magical Ingredients
- Quick & Easy Fresh Cherry Dessert Sauce by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
- Quinoa Stuffed Peppers by Art of Natural Living
- Grilled Chicken and Zucchini Pasta by Our Crafty Mom
- Sautéed Zucchini and Corn by Our Good Life
- Roasted Carrots with Vietnamese Sauce by The Spiffy Cookie
- Pan con Tomate by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
