Tag: cherries

vodka

Dirty Shirley | The Boozy Version of a Childhood Favorite

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The Dirty Shirley is the boozy version of the Shirley Temple, a childhood favorite of many. To make a Dirty Shirley, you'll only need 4 ingredients: vodka, Sprite, grenadine syrup, and a maraschino cherry.

I bet you’ve heard of the infamous mocktail called the Shirley Temple. It’s an iconic drink and rightfully so. But today I’m talking about the grown-up version: the Dirty Shirley.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

The Shirley Temple is *the* quintessential mocktail in my opinion. This famous nonalcoholic drink has maintained its popularity from its creation in the 1930s. There are several stories about who created this drink and where it was created, but all versions are clear about who it was created for: Shirley Temple.

While we don’t know which bartender in which restaurant created it originally, we do know that someone somewhere made Shirley Temple her own special drink while she was eating dinner out with her parents. Some say that Shirley was whining a bit because her parents got to enjoy special drinks like Old Fashioneds and some leave that anecdote out. Personally I envision Shirley politely raising her little hand and asking the waiter for her own special concoction. Fill in the unrecorded details as you want.

Just as the exact history of the Shirley Temple drink is a bit fuddled, the exact recipe is unclear, too. Some recipes use lemon-lime soda while others use ginger ale. There’s even a recipe out there that uses orange juice. However, there are two non-negotiable ingredients: grenadine and a maraschino cherry.

But what is grenadine? It’s a bar ingredient easily recognized by many thanks to its bright-red hue, and yet few people I’ve talked to know what it is. The common assumption is that it’s a cherry-flavored syrup. This is probably due in large part to its connection with the Shirley Temple which is always garnished with a cherry. It’s an understandable assumption. But grenadine is a pomegranate-flavored syrup. Yep. Google it.

I LOVED ordering Shirley Temples as a kid. I remember them being a really special treat when we would go out to eat. And while I would still definitely slam a Shirley Temple now, a Dirty Shirley is more my style.

The Dirty Shirley is the boozy version of the Shirley Temple, a childhood favorite of many. To make a Dirty Shirley, you'll only need 4 ingredients: vodka, Sprite, grenadine syrup, and a maraschino cherry.

When you make your Dirty Shirley, you can make it with your liquor of choice, but I opt for vodka. Vodka’s got a really clean, bright taste that blends in nicely. If you’re not wanting to taste the alcohol in a drink, use vodka.

A quick note about grenadine brands. The most commonly-known and widely-available brand is Rose’s. It’s what I first bought. But over the years, I’ve become exposed to more brands and I’ve also raised my standards a bit. Rose’s will do if that’s what you have. BUT if you haven’t invested in any grenadine yet, you should get Barsmith’s grenadine or Liber & Co’s grenadine. Both of them use real pomegranate juice, pure cane sugar (not corn syrup), and only use natural coloring. Barsmith’s ingredients are even non-GMO.

Barsmith is the brand in my fridge now and its definitely more tart and less red than Rose’s. I really like it. When I run out, I’m gonna give Liber & Co a try. I’ve heard great things about their other syrups so I’m sure their grenadine is great, too.

Feel free to experiment with this classic Dirty Shirley recipe. Add some lime juice or orange juice for a fun twist. I cut the grenadine amount in half and subbed in some of my cherry pit simple syrup. It was reeally good. You can also try making it with lemon-lime La Croix or Spindrift if you’re trying to watch your calories and sugar intake

If you make a Dirty Shirley, be sure to tag on me on Instagram –> @girlandtonic_

The Dirty Shirley is the boozy version of the Shirley Temple, a childhood favorite of many. To make a Dirty Shirley, you'll only need 4 ingredients: vodka, Sprite, grenadine syrup, and a maraschino cherry.

Ingredients for a Dirty Shirley

  • 1 1/2 oz vodka
  • 3/4 oz grenadine
  • 8 oz (1 cup) lemon-lime soda or ginger ale
  • cherry, to garnish

How to Make a Dirty Shirley

Add ice to a Collins glass or another tall glass. Pour in the vodka, the soda, and the grenadine. Stir to combine. Garnish with a cherry. I used a fresh cherry, but the traditional recipe calls for a maraschino cherry.

Learn how to make a Dirty Shirley with 3 ingredients.

Dirty Shirley

A boozy version of the Shirley Temple.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 min
Course Drinks
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 1½ oz vodka (can sub white rum or gin)
  • ¾ oz grenadine
  • 8 oz lemon-lime soda or ginger ale
  • 1 cherry, to garnish

Instructions
 

  • Add ice to a Collins glass or tall glass.
  • Pour in the vodka, the soda, and the grenadine.
  • Stir to combine.
  • Garnish with a cherry.

Notes

Traditional recipes call for Sprite or ginger ale. Pick whichever you prefer.
For the garnish, I used a fresh cherry, but the traditional recipe calls for a maraschino cherry.
Keyword ginger ale, grenadine, Sprite, vodka
tequila

Cherry Limeade Margarita | An Easy 4-Ingredient Summer Cocktail

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This 4-ingredient Cherry Limeade Margarita is the perfect summer cocktail. It's bright, refreshing, and will remind you of your favorite childhood beverage--only with a tequila twist.

This Cherry Limeade Margarita recipe is perfect for summer sippin’. I mean, who doesn’t find a Cherry Limeade completely refreshing? And margaritas practically demand to be enjoyed on a warm afternoon. I thought I would try combining the two and ooooh man, it did not disappoint.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

I think of Cherry Limeades as one of the original mocktails of the beverage world. There’s really just something so refreshing and so summer-y about them. But since this is a cocktail blog, we need to add some booze.

I first got the idea to make this Cherry Limeade Margarita when I was pitting the huge bag of cherries for my brandied cherries (recipe coming soon) and my cherry pit simple syrup. I was wracking my brain for ways to use the syrup and a cherry limeade is the first thing I thought of.

Originally, I was thinking of pouring the cherry pit simple syrup into some vodka and Sprite and calling it a day. An adult Cherry Limeade, if you will. And while that combination would DEFINITELY taste good, I wanted to think of something a liiittle more unique. Then it hit me– a Margarita!

This 4-ingredient Cherry Limeade Margarita is the perfect summer cocktail. It's bright, refreshing, and will remind you of your favorite childhood beverage--only with a tequila twist.

I’ve mentioned before in my Spicy Basil Margarita post that I’m not a huge Margarita fan. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that I’ve gotta be in the right mood for them.

But this idea… this idea was really intriguing to me. I knew I had to at least try it. I had a feeling that the sweet cherry pit simple syrup would really smooth out the harsh acidity that Margaritas are known for. And I was right.

If you read the cherry pit simple syrup post, or if you’ve actually made the syrup yourself, you’ll know that it has a pretty delicate cherry flavor. I wanted to make sure this Cherry Limeade Margarita tasted like fresh cherries.

This 4-ingredient Cherry Limeade Margarita is the perfect summer cocktail. It's bright, refreshing, and will remind you of your favorite childhood beverage--only with a tequila twist.

Muddling fresh fruit is a great way to impart a fruit’s flavor into a drink. It’s definitely the fastest and easiest way to do so. But I decided to infuse some blanco tequila with the fresh cherries. It turned out delicious.

Cherry-infused tequila might sound a little intimidating or difficult, but it’s not. It’s as easy as plopping some cherries into some tequila. The only difficult thing about cherry-infused tequila is having to wait a few days for the cherries to fully steep. Here’s a step-by-step guide to making your own cherry-infused tequila. You can use these steps to infuse tequila with any other fruit.

Cherry-infused tequila, paired with cherry pit simple syrup, creates an incredible Cherry Limeade Margarita.
Print Recipe

Cherry-Infused Tequila

Infusing tequila with fresh cherries is a delicous and easy way to incorporate cherry flavor into your favorite tequila cocktails.
Steeping Time5 d
Course: Drinks
Keyword: cherries, tequila
Servings: 5 ounces

Equipment

  • small lidded container (mason jar, etc.)

Ingredients

  • 4-5 cherries
  • 5 oz tequila blanco

Instructions

  • Pour the tequila into a small lidded container like a mason jar or glass tupperware.
  • Add the cherries, making sure the cherries are completely covered by the tequila.
  • Seal the container. Store in the fridge for 3-5 days, shaking gently each day.
  • When you're ready to use it, you can strain the cherries out of the tequila.

Notes

This should last for about a year, but I doubt you’ll be able to keep it around for that long!
Feel free to garnish your cherry-infused tequila cocktail with one of the tequila-soaked cherries.

After 5 days of infusing, the tequila will take on a gorgeous pink color. I forgot to take a picture though before I used it. Oops.

I used pitted cherries but that’s not necessary. I had just already pitted all of mine because I was also making brandied cherries at the time. (If you’re in the market for a reliable cherry pitter, this OXO one on Amazon is well worth the $12.)

You’ll notice that this cherry-infused tequila recipe only makes 5 ounces. If you’ve been around Girl & Tonic for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I prefer to make things like simple syrups in smaller batches. This is because I want to make sure I’m able to use up all of what I’ve made before it goes bad.

Now, you can certainly make this Cherry Limeade Margarita recipe without the cherry-infused tequila. But it won’t be as good. Test your patience and wait the 5 days. It’ll be worth it.

This 4-ingredient Cherry Limeade Margarita is the perfect summer cocktail. It's bright, refreshing, and will remind you of your favorite childhood beverage--only with a tequila twist.

Ingredients for a Cherry Limeade Margarita

  • 1 1/2 oz cherry-infused tequila
  • 3/4 oz triple sec/orange liqueur
  • 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 oz cherry pit simple syrup (you can find the recipe here)
  • 1+ oz Sprite or other lemon-lime soda

How to Make a Cherry Limeade Margarita

Pour the cherry-infused tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and cherry pit simple syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into a Margarita glass filled with ice. Top off the rest of the glass with Sprite.

If you’re Margarita fan, check out my Spicy Basil Margarita recipe, too.

How to make a cherry limeade margarita with cherry-infused tequila.

Cherry Limeade Margarita

This 4-ingredient Cherry Limeade Margarita is the perfect summer cocktail. It's bright, refreshing, and will remind you of your favorite childhood beverage–only boozier.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 3 mins
Course Drinks

Equipment

  • cocktail shaker

Ingredients
  

  • 1½ oz cherry-infused tequila* (see post for instructions)
  • ¾ oz triple sec/orange liqueur
  • ¾ oz lime juice freshly-squeezed
  • ½ oz cherry pit simple syrup**
  • 1+ oz Sprite

Instructions
 

  • Pour the cherry-infused tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and cherry pit simple syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
  • Shake well.
  • Strain into a Margarita glass filled with ice.
  • Top off the rest of the glass with Sprite.

Notes

*To make the cherry-infused tequila, refer to the steps outlined above in the text of this post.
**To make the cherry pit simple syrup, refer to this recipe.
Keyword cherries, cherry pit simple syrup, lime, lime juice, orange liqueur, Sprite, tequila
simple syrup

Cherry Simple Syrup | How to Use Cherry Pits to Make a Delicious Syrup

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This cherry simple syrup is made with cherry pits. It has a delicate, delicious flavor-- far from any artificial cherry flavor you might be familiar with. And don't worry, it's not poisonous.

This cherry simple syrup is made with cherry pits. It has a delicate, delicious flavor– far from any artificial cherry flavor you might be familiar with. And don’t worry, it’s nontoxic. But more on that later on.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

When I bought fresh cherries last week, I was only planning on making brandied cherries. But as I started seeing the cherry pits pile up, I knew I couldn’t let them go to waste. I recalled that a friend of mine told me he used cherry pits in his homemade Luxardo cherry recipe. I considered adding the cherry pits to my brandied cherries and then figured I’d try to make a cherry simple syrup instead.

In the back of my mind, I felt like I remembered something about cherry pits being toxic. If that was true, how was my friend able to use them in his recipe? Hmm… A quick Google search helped me sort that out.

This cherry simple syrup is made with cherry pits. It has a delicate, delicious almond flavor-- far from any artificial cherry flavor you might be familiar with. And don't worry, it's nontoxic.

Cherry pits, like the pits of other stone fruits such as peaches and plums, contain kernels inside called noyaux. The noyaux contain amygdalin, which turns into cyanide when it’s consumed or digested. This sounds a little scary, huh? The good news is that even if you swallow a few cherry pits on accident, you’re in the clear. This is because the amygdalin-ridden noyaux is safely nestled inside the casing of the pit. The outer shell of the pit is meant to withstand stomach acids. This is so that the precious kernel (where the amygdalin is) is protected even if an animal eats the fruit. The only way to expose the kernel is if you crack the pit open.

So, it is totally safe to use whole cherry pits. As long as you don’t crush, crack, or chew on the pits, no harmful toxins will be released. But, if you accidentally add a cracked cherry pit to the saucepan, it’s fiiine because we’re boiling the syrup anyway.

Yes, it is safe to use the kernel itself if you cook it. Noyaux is used commonly in Europe to flavor ice creams and other various sweet treats. If the noyaux is toasted or boiled prior to use, it renders the amygdalin harmless.

Hopefully, you’re feeling confident that this cherry simple syrup made with cherry pits is indeed safe. Like 100% safe. If you want more information, or if you’re wanting to hear this information from a more certified source, check out Poison.org’s article.

Now that I’ve cleared the air about cherry pits being poisonous, we can move on to talking about the cherry simple syrup.

Invest in a cherry pitter to make this cherry simple syrup recipe easier, faster, and cleaner!

Pitting cherries is a pain in the B-U-T-T so to make this chore easier, I invested in a cherry pitter. I loooove this one because it has a built-in splatter shield. It made the process a lot cleaner. If you’re gonna be pitting a whole bag of cherries, be kind to yourself and invest in a cherry pitter.

Invest in a cherry pitter to make this cherry simple syrup recipe easier, faster, and cleaner!

The great thing about using the cherry pits to flavor the syrup is that they impart a delicate almond flavor. Bits of the fruit flesh will cling to the pit and will flavor the syrup as well.

When I was making the syrup, I noticed that the syrup color was more brown than red so I threw in 3 or 4 cherries. This created the gorgeous maroon color like you see in the photos.

This cherry simple syrup is made with cherry pits. It has a delicate, delicious flavor-- far from any artificial cherry flavor you might be familiar with. And don't worry, it's nontoxic.

Wondering how you can use this cherry pit simple syrup? You can add some to your iced tea, use it in baking, drizzle it over some pancakes or waffles, make a mocktail with Sprite or sparkling water, or of course, in a cocktail. This would go beautifully in an Old Fashioned. I also think it would make an interesting Cherry Gimlet.

Let me know in a comment below how you plan on using this cherry simple syrup.

If you’re interested in creating other flavored simple syrups, check out these 6 other flavors.

Ingredients to Make Cherry Simple Syrup Made with Cherry Pits

  • 1/2 cup cherry pits (this will come from about 3 cups or 1 pound of fresh cherries)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 cherries (optional)
  • 1/4 oz brandy (optional– to preserve it)

How to Make Cherry Simple Syrup Made with Cherry Pits

Add the cherry pits, sugar, water, and cherries to a small saucepan. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and strain the contents into a mason jar or other sealable container. Add the splash of brandy and allow the syrup to cool before placing the lid on. Store in the fridge for 1-2 months.

If it begins to look cloudy, toss it. You can also freeze some of the syrup. Just keep in mind it may not freeze all the way due to the high sugar content and the small amount of brandy.

Cherry Simple Syrup – Made with Cherry Pits

5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Drinks

Equipment

  • small saucepan
  • lidded container

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup cherry pits (from ~3 cups or 1 lb. fresh cherries)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 fresh cherries (for added color)
  • ¼ oz brandy or vodka – optional (to preserve)

Instructions
 

  • Add the cherry pits, sugar, water, and cherries to a small saucepan.
  • Simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring ocassionally.
  • Remove from heat and strain the pits and cherries out. Pour into a mason jar or other sealable container.
  • Add the splash of brandy and allow the syrup to cool before placing the lid on. Store in the fridge for 1-2 months.

Notes

Should last 1-2 months in the fridge. If it begins to look cloudy, toss it.
You can also freeze some of the syrup. Just keep in mind it may not freeze all the way due to the high sugar content and the small amount of brandy.
Keyword cherries, cherry pits, simple syrup, sugar