We interrupt your regularly-scheduled Project Pastry Queen for a celebration! Emily of Ruf Love and her husband are expecting a sweet baby boy this summer and A Gilt Nutmeg (another Emily – we have 3!) is hosting a virtual shower filled with fabulous baby shower eats to celebrate.

I chose to make Cherry Lemonade. Because every pregnant woman deserves a refreshing beverage… even if, for a few more months, it can’t be as “frosty” as she’d like it to be 🙂

Beautiful, sweet red cherries have been plentiful – and super affordable – in our grocery store the last couple of weeks. And few things offer relief from the summer heat quite like a tall glass of lemonade.

We blended up a cherry-infused simple syrup and poured that into our favorite homemade lemonade. Not too sweet, not too tart, and wonderfully refreshing.

Congratulations to Emily! And thank you to A Gilt Nutmeg for coordinating and hosting this week!

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Cherry Lemonade

Fresh cherries and lemons make the ultimate homemade pink lemonade.

Ingredients

• For the cherry simple syrup:
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar (or the equivalent of your favorite sweetener)
• 2 dozen cherries, pitted and stems removed
• For the lemonade:
• 1 recipe cherry simple syrup
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 3-4 cups water

Instructions

1. Heat water and sugar in a small sauce pan, just until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture turns clear.
2. Pour into a blender and add the cherries.
3. Blend for 10-15 seconds and pour through a fine strainer set over a pitcher.
4. Using a spoon, press the solids to get all of the liquid out and then discard the solids.
5. Add lemon juice to the pitcher and then add water to taste (3-4 cups is ideal).
6. Serve over ice.

Notes

Yields: ~5-6 cups

Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

Estimated time: 15 minutes