Cherry Ricotta Cake Filling!

So, now that you have your yummy maraschino cherries made from my last post, here's something yummy to make with them!  :)  I use this filling in a white cake with vanilla or almond frosting.  However, if you like cherries and chocolate, a chocolate cake might be a good option too!  Here we go...


Ingredients:
15oz Ricotta cheese
2 8oz packages of cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
16 oz maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together, then refrigerate for 1 hour, or until spreadable.


This makes a LOT of filling, so halve the recipe if you're not filling a pretty large cake.  Of course, sometimes I just eat the filling too, so it's nice to have some extra...  ;)  Also, sometimes I leave the cherries and almond extract out, and it's HEAVENLY in chocolate cake.  :)

Yum.  I'm so glad I have some of this in the fridge for a cake order tomorrow... There WILL be extra just for me.  :)

Hello again!

My poor little neglected blog...  Between moving and holidays and more moving, I haven't spent much time here at all, even in the short time periods where I've had internet!  Hopefully my internet service will be less spotty now, so I can update every once in a while...  :)

Now on to what I've been doing the last while!  Naturally, with the holidays past, I've done a fair amount of baking, so let's do something simple.

Homemade Maraschino Cherries.

:D

Now, if you've ever looked for recipes for maraschino cherries online (like I have), you'll notice that they usually start with "Wash 4 1/2 pounds of fresh cherries and then pit them all".  O.o  They also often call for three day cooking times, with cooling, macerating and canning.

Spare me, please.

:)

They often also call for copious amounts of red food coloring, just like the store-bought kind.  So I decided to  make up my own recipe!

First of all, there are only three ingredients in mine, and no cooking required!  And boy, are they tasty!  First, I bought a can of these:

Maybe not the healthiest item out there, but it only has three ingredients: Cherries, water and sugar.  Since most recipes call for cooking a syrup anyway, we'll just let this can take care of several time consuming steps for us.

Maraschino Cherry Recipe

   1 15oz can Cherries in Heavy Syrup
   1 tsp Lemon Juice
   1/2-1 1/2 tsp Almond Extract (add to personal preference.  I like lots of almond.)

Place all ingredients in a one pint canning jar.  Place in refrigerator.  Let sit at least overnight.  Enjoy!


Now, these get better the longer you let them macerate.  After a couple days, the flavors have melded together really well, and they're absolutely DELICIOUS...

And later, I'll give you the recipe for the best cake filling to ever feature maraschino cherries...  :)