Bourbon soaked cherries are simply delicious, especially at the bottom of a Manhattan. I love the flavor so much that I was inspired to incorporate it into a cherry recipe. However, I wanted to make it a bit less alcoholic; It wouldn’t be good if you could get drunk off of eating dessert.The result of my madness is a homemade cherry pie filling befitting any Manhattan lover’s dreams. 

Now you may be thinking, “doesn’t the inclusion of bourbon make it alcoholic?”. The simple answer is, well, no. The alcohol gets cooked out of the pie filling during the cooking process. All you’re left with is the bourbon’s sweet and spicy flavor. It compliments the cherries and cinnamon perfectly while having a complex flavor all of its own. It’s definitely not your grandmother’s cherry pie filling.

Cherry Bourbon Pie Filling

1 heaping cup of pitted cherries

¼ cup brown sugar 

¼ cup cornstarch

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp kosher salt

¼ cup bourbon

1 cup water

In a small pot, combine all of the ingredients. Stir until the brown sugar and cornstarch are dissolved. 

Set to medium high heat and stir constantly while the mixture cooks and thickens.

Lightly mash the cherries, you want to crush some of them but leave most of them intact. I mashed the cherries to release some of the juice, it helps to enhance the cherry flavor. 

Once completely thickened you can store it in a glass container and refrigerate. You can store the filling in the fridge for up to a week.

*Notes: This recipe makes enough pie filling for a small cherry crisp or hand pies. If you would like to make an 8” pie you can double the recipe. 

You can use any type of cherries for this recipe. I ended up using sour cherries for my pie filling, that’s just what was in season at the time.