Thursday, December 17, 2015

Black Walnuts, Candied Cherries, with Irish Whiskey



Black walnuts have always been a favored part of my heart. My maternal grandparents had huge trees that surrounded their Indiana home. My grandpa would throw the green-encased nuts on the driveway and run over them with his blue GMC truck to crack them open. Yum.

Growing up, I also remember a wonderful black walnut ice cream under the name of Sealtest.

Anyway ... Time passes on.

It's Christmas.

For some reason, I have had black walnuts on my mind. Candied red cherries. Irish whiskey. And Soda Bread.

I thought I would put them all together for a kind of Christmas Bread.

Wrong.

Once I marinated the black walnuts and candied cherries in the whiskey ... I could not stop eating the nutty, sweet-sopping result ...



What to do?

I do not know.

This essence needs to be a side on its own ... for rich, dark chocolate cake and whipped cream ... or ice cream... Better yet, serve a rich brownie with a scoop of ice cream and then topped with the mixture!


  • 2 ounces chopped black walnuts
  • 4 ounces whole candied cherries, snipped with kitchen shears or cut into pieces
  • 50 ml Jameson Irish Whiskey (one of those tiny bottles)

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and cover for several hours or until most of the whiskey has been absorbed. Stir every-so-often.










3 comments:

Ellen said...

I was with ya until you added the whiskey. No thank you.
If you could come up with an alternative, I might consider.
My folks also had property lined with black walnut trees.
People used to come to the house and ask if they could have them - they fell mostly in the street out front.

Kitchen Bounty said...

Ellen ... For my Christmas present, just make one of my recipes. Period. Alternative for whiskey? Rum. Over one-million hits here ...

Ellen said...

I can't promise anything but . . . . I understand that miracles DO occur so you just never know.
I am making a chocolate cake by scratch today that calls for espresso powder.