Today, I'm introducing a new series for this blog and the CJ's-Kitchen YouTube channel I'm calling "Cheers". Ever since I first signed up on Pinterest, I've had a "Cheers" board and it's filled with recipes and images of beverages so I thought it was about time I started sharing some of my personal favorite beverages with you!
Cherry Limeade is a recent addition to my list of refreshing summer favorites and I decided I wanted to make it myself, from scratch. It has the lovely tartness you'd expect from a limeade with a nice hit of cherry sweetness to balance it all out.
I started by finding a recipe for a Cherry Simple Syrup, just to have a starting point for the measurements and tweaked it to my liking from there. Next, I found a limeade recipe that sounded about right for my taste, reduced the recipe down to a single serving quantity and subbed in the Cherry Simple Syrup for regular Simple Syrup. The full recipe would make enough for 4 servings.
To make the Cherry Simple Syrup you can use either fresh or frozen cherries. The first batch I made was from fresh cherries, but they are now officially out of season, so when I made it today for the post, I used frozen.
Simply stir together some water, sugar and cherries over medium high heat until the sugar dissolves and it all comes to a boil.
Mash the cherries with a potato masher or ricer - just so they are broken up enough to release their lovely juices and flavor.
Let it boil for about a minute, then turn off the heat, let it cool and strain it into a jar or pitcher for easy pouring when you use it.
Then juice some limes - enough for 1/4 cup of lime juice. I mixed my limeade in a single-serving quantity using a gravy shaker. Just mix the lime juice, cherry simple syrup and some water together and shake it up. Pour it over ice, garnish with a slice of lime and you're all set to kick back and relax with this lovely, refreshing drink. Cheers!
Cherry Simple Syrup
1 Cup pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
1/2 Cup sugar
1 Cup water
Place cherries, sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Mash cherries with a potato masher, just enough to break them up. Lower the heat to medium and continue to boil mixture for 1 minute. Turn off heat and allow mixture to cool. Strain mixture into a jar or pitcher.
Cherry Limeade
Full Recipe, 4 servings
1 Cup Lime Juice, fresh or bottled
1 1/2 C Cherry Simple Syrup
4 Cups Water
Single Serving Recipe
1/4 Cup lime juice
1/4 Cup, plus 2 TBLS Cherry Simple Syrup
1 Cup Water
Mix all ingredients together in a pitcher, glass or cocktail shaker. Pour over ice. Serve cold (with a lime slice garnish, if you like).
Ciao!
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