Promises, Promises

I like to keep my promises.  Even if I fall down on the task of keeping a promise, I usually go back and try to start over or make up for it in some way.

I mean, really - why make a promise if you don't really care to follow through?

And I know y'all really care about what happened to all my pitted cherries, right?

Right?

I had no idea what to do with those cherries.  And so they sat another couple of days in the fridge while I figured it out.  I lost a couple of them, but the majority hung in there with me so that I could make them better than they ever imagined being, because I finally realized what I was going to do with them.

I would help these cherries fulfill their edible destinies as a delicious sauce.

Maybe because it has been 999 degrees every day here lately, but I wanted something that would go with ice-cream, and I thought a cherry sauce would be just divine.

Plus, I knew with a little extra effort, I could put up the rest and have cherry sauce for months to come.

So I picked this lovely recipe for Brandied Cherry Dessert Sauce and got to work.

 

I know it looks like a pot full of caw-dads, but it's not.  That's about 2.5 pounds of pitted and halved cherries.  I realized I'd need more cherries if I was going to make enough sauce to be worth my time, so I got another bag while they were still on supersale at Publix.  Then I listened to an episode of This American Life while I worked.  It was such a quick recipe and didn't require anything too out of the ordinary.  Just some cinnamon and kirsch and sugar and cornstarch and fruit juice...all things I had already in my kitchen or bar.

And I got three and 1/2 of these lovely little jars full of dessert sauce.  Oh the satisfaction that comes with hearing those little lids go "thhhhhhhwack!" when they seal.

And that's that.

Oh, you wanted more?  You wanted to know how I used my little half jar of sauce, since you KNEW I couldn't just let it set up waiting and waiting til later?

Ok.  I'll share.  But you have to promise that you won't get mad, because you're going to want some and I don't have enough for everyone.

Here goes:

You get an ice-cream sandwich.  This one happens to be the Eskimo kind because they were a BOGO last week when I wondered into the ice cream aisle and my brain said "ICE CREAM SANDWICHES NOW!"  But you can use any old one.

Find you're little half jar of delicious brandied cherry sauce.  You don't have to look far.  It's been sitting right there next to the basil bouquet all week.

You can tell from the lids and the knife (and the major shadow) that I'm not a food photographer, but that's ok.  We're all friends here.  Cut your ice cream sandwich in half because you promised your daughter before her nap that you'd share one with her after she got up but she HAD. TO. GO. REST. NOW. PLEASE.  Then drizzle your sauce on top.

Finally, enjoy the spoils of your labor.  On a cute little saucer that you like to use as a plate because it is just the right size for tiny Schwarzwald ice cream sandwiches.

If you if you like cherries and you like ice cream sandwiches, you'll love this little dessert.

I promise.