“Cherries!”
That’s the shout I hear when the boys find cherries on the counter and eagerly pop them in their mouths and pull off the stems. They can’t resist the deep red fruits, and neither can I. Seeing their happy smiles with cherry juice all over their hands and faces is one of my favorite moments.
When I use fresh cherries in a recipe, I grab my handy Oxo Good Grips Cherry Pitter (not sponsored), which pops the seeds right out with minimal mess. It’s such a unitasker, I know, but it does the job very well and saves me loads of time when processing several bags of cherries. This makes the job so easy I would even turn it over to Builder Guy and Top Gun if I thought they’d actually leave some cherries for the rest of us.
Though we mostly eat cherries out of hand, we also add them to ice cream and make pies and cobblers and this cherry butter. Like the other fruit butters I make, the thickness comes from cooking down the fruit, not added pectin. I add a little bit of vanilla extract which gives the butter a wonderful richness of flavor.
Sweet Cherry Butter
Equipment
- 3-quart saucepan
- potato masher
- immersion blender or jar blender
- 2 (8-ounce) freezer jars with lids
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh sweet cherries (stemmed and pitted)
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation
- Pour the pitted cherries into the sauce pan and add the lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. The cherries should be very soft and mashable.
- Mash the cherries with the potato masher to break the skins, then blend with the immersion blender until the mixture is smooth. (Or blend the cherries in a blender until very smooth.)
- Return the pureed cherries to the sauce pan and add the sugar and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered until the mixture is thick, about 25 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Cool completely and divide between the two freezer jars. Store jars in the refrigerator or freezer. Will keep for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator and 3 to 4 months in the freezer.
SharleneT. says
Hadn't thought of cherry butter and, now, can't imagine why not? Thanks for the recipe. Come visit when you can...
Kristine says
Sweet! Always looking for a way to use my favorite fruit, fresh cherries! And I gotta get me one of those pitters- thanks again!!
Kelly Brewer says
I love the look of this recipe. I am wondering if there is some reason you recommend freezing instead of canning. Is it safe to can this yumminess?
Thanks,
Kelly with the small freezer
Andrea says
Yes, you can use a hot water bath to can it, though at just two jars it is a small batch and might not be necessary. If you want to process it, I recommend the directions from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Let us know how it turns out!
Amanda KP says
did you have any problems with foam when you used the immersion blender? if so, how did you get rid of it? does it go away once you cook it down?
Andrea says
Hi Amanda. I actually didn't get any foaming with the immersion blender. If you get foam, just skim it off with a spoon.
Teri Bauman says
I had a bit of foam but it cooked out☺
Frederique says
I have a huge bag of pitted frozen cherries... would that work as well?
Andrea says
Hi Frederique. Yes, you can absolutely use pitted frozen cherries. I've used them in the cherry butter, and it works well, just let them thaw in the bag or in a bowl and pour all the juices in with the cherries when you get ready to cook.
Samantha C says
I decided, since this was a small recipe, to try many different ways for this. So far my favorite is partially mashing them, throwing the ingredients in a crock pot with a stick of cinnamon, then letting it cook until thick. It has tiny little pieces of cherry in it, but not so much that its "chunky"