I did a bunch of canning earlier this summer and nearly every project I tackled came out of the Put ’em Up! cookbook. Since I bought it last year, it’s easily become one of my most-used and most-trusted resources.

One of the things I like about the book is that not everything is canned – she includes plenty of recipes for drying, freezing, infusing and some that are just stored in the fridge. This simple recipe is one of the latter. It’s basically a gooey, chocolate-y sauce with cherries and it’s amazing on pound cake and ice cream.

As an aside , the Kindle version of Put ’em Up! is currently (as I’m typing this), on sale for just $2.51 on Amazon. I can’t say enough good things about this book – definitely worth picking up, especially at such a great price! (And no, I won’t get any sort of compensation from this – just passing along a great deal!)

Black Forest Dessert Sauce
(from Put ’em Up!)
Makes about 1 quart

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 lb. sweet cherries, stemmed and pitted

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a simmer, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the cocoa powder.

Add in the cherries and simmer until they yield their juice and the whole mixture becomes thick and syrupy. (It should be about 20 minutes.)

Ladle into a jar. Cool, cover and refrigerate. It will last several weeks.