Whole Cherry Syrup

by Heidi Updated: Aug 30, 2018

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Dollar size chocolate chip pancakes demand a syrup with a statement. This Whole Cherry Syrup stands up waves it’s arms in the air like it just doesn’t care. Word.

This summer has made my Smudge of a daughter extremely sparse at home thanks to a 4-week cousin-cation that included nearly 3 weeks at my mom’s house. But before we knew it, the cousins caught their plane ride home and left us (her) in a puddle of full-blown tears and grieving for 2 entire days with the lament of, “Now I only have Instagram so I know what they’re doing.” Only Instagram. How ironic, since it’s INSTANT!

Now that she’s home, she’s quickly adapted right back into the life of a 9 year old, which translates to, “Mom, can I hang out with a friend today?”, “Mom, can we go swimming?”, “Mom, can xx or yy sleep over tonight?”, “Mom, can I get a doughnut at the store and a shake on the way home?”

A girl after my own heart.

So when she had a friend sleep over after ‘hanging out’—they don’t call them play dates at this age anymore thank you very much, that’s so third grade—it was time to whip up their request for breakfast request for dinner. It’s summer. It’s necessary. It’s chocolate chip pancakes with raspberry syrup.

But with one very big caveat. Smudge’s favorite raspberry syrup didn’t find it’s way back into the refrigerator the last time it was used and had developed a very plump, golden skid of goo on top of the syrup. Buh-bye raspberry syrup.

On the upside, we had before us the perfect excuse to make a quick homemade Cherry Syrup thanks to a gorgeously boxed delivery of Washington State’s Stemilt dark sweet cherries courtesy of Whole Foods.

These cherries were packed like solid little soldiers, perfect in uniformity and so firm and juicy. It was a hard decision to cook them, they were too lush to tarnish with heat. But pancakes were beckoning. So we ate them as we pitted them. We ate them as we cooked them. And we ate the little flavor bombs afterward too. And we licked our sticky fingers clean.

When I first started blogging I had no idea what to use to pit cherries. So I would use a chopstick to poke the pit through the end of the lil’ fruit. Which is fine if you only need a smattering of them like in my Balsamic Skirt Steak Salad with Stone Fruit. But then I learned of this cherry pitter on Twitter (where’s the rap for that rhyme?) and it has become my new cherry bomb BFF. Get one, you won’t regret it.

While I love making homemade pancakes—this recipe is my go-to—I’m totally okay with a mix, and this whole wheat mix is deceptively healthy and delicious, so much so that the kiddos don’t even know it might be good for them. Especially when it has a few chocolate chips tossed in.

This little ditty would also be delicious not only on breakfast but…

~ With a little rosemary or thyme added in, reduced down a bit more and drizzled over grilled pork chops or a baked chicken breast.

~ Or give it a try as the base of a cocktail. Just add a spirit—vodka or whiskey would be especially yummy—and a club soda topper and you have a sweetened drink.

~ Or spoon it on top of ice cream or mix into a shake with chunks of chocolate. Cherry bomb delight. Hey. I think I have my next blog post!

5 from 2 votes