Since making that SoCo Caramel Popcorn last week, I’ve really been on a booze-infused recipe kick.

This past Saturday, The Brit and I perused our local Farmer’s Market and I zeroed in on some beautiful sweet cherries right away. Now, I know you’re supposed to use Sour Cherries in traditional pie filling, but I like Sweet Cherries just as much. I grabbed two pints quickly, forking over my $6 happily. One beautiful pie was on its way to being.

Now, I’ve never made pie filling before. So while I was doing research into what all I needed to include, I first pitted all the cherries using my handy dandy Oxo Cherry Pitter (I love this thing, it’s so fun and satisfying!) and then left them to macerate in a bowl with a few pals.

I started with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Then I thought, “What the heck”, and threw in a 1/4 cup of vanilla infused Southern Comfort. (I started making my own vanilla with the leftover bottle of Southern Comfort from the popcorn, but it hasn’t been sitting long enough to be *vanilla*).

The final bit of inspiration came when I opened the spice cabinet and spotted Lemon Extract. Half a teaspoon later, the scent coming from the cherries was boozy, bright, and perfect.

I let that set up for about half an hour, and then started to make the actual filling based on a few different recipes.

Use whatever pie crust you like (store bought, your favorite recipe, whatever takes your fancy). You can use this filling in empanadas, fried handpies, and even cobbler.

[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Boozy Sweet Cherry Pie Filling – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]