Our Favorite Ways to Use Cherries

Though cherries are synonymous with summer, their deeply tart and sweet flavor should be enjoyed all year round. If you freeze a few after your trip to the orchard (just be sure to pit them first!), you’ll have them on hand for everything from refreshing cocktails to savory sides.

Fresh, frozen or even dried, you’ll find that they add a pop of flavor to a variety of different dishes. If you’re looking for inspiration, you’re in the right place.

We’ve rounded up all our favorite cherry recipes right here, starting with cherry pie—a quintessential summer fruit dessert. We love that this recipe calls for homemade pie dough and combines tart cherries, balsamic vinegar and ice cream for the perfect balance of savory and sweet. You’ll want to keep this classic top of mind for your next barbecue.

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Get the Recipe: Cherry Pie

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cherry Cobbler

Can’t choose between a chocolatey or a fruity dessert? No you don’t have to. Thanks to this chocolate chip cookie cherry cobbler, you can devour the best of both flavor profiles, all in one dish. Bring it to your next potluck for a crowd pleasing favorite.

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Get the Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cherry Cobbler

Cherry-Chocolate Upside-Down Cake

This golden-brown cake gets its decadent sweetness from homemade caramel. Sweet chocolate and tart cherries provide complementing flavors in every bite. The best part? It all comes together in under an hour.

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Get the Recipe: Cherry-Chocolate Upside-Down Cake

Cherry Hand Pies

Hand pies are the perfect make-and-take dessert, and these are oozing with cherry goodness. Handmade dough makes them super fresh and flakey and a dusting of powdered sugar adds just the right amount of sweetness.

Andrew Purcell / Food Network

Get the Recipe: Cherry Hand Pies

Cherry Clafoutis

Clafoutis is a decadent dessert that combines fresh fruit with rich flan. We love this version because although it calls for fresh cherries, you can easily swap them out for a bag of frozen. Perfect for a crowd, serve this at your next summer dinner party.

Andrew McCaul / Food Network

Get the Recipe: Cherry Clafoutis

Maraschino Cherries

Maraschino cherries are a world-famous cocktail garnish for a reason. They’re like little bombs of sweet, fruity juice and turns out, they’re pretty easy to make at home. Whip up a jar to have on hand for your next cocktail party.

Food Network

Get the Recipe: Maraschino Cherries

Dark Chocolate and Cherry Cheesecake Galette

Tired of traditional cherry pie? Try this galette instead. It combines the tried-and-true combination of dark chocolate and cherries for a sweet, fruity dessert.

Kate Mathis / Food Network

Get the Recipe: Dark Chocolate and Cherry Cheesecake Galette

The Best Cherry Cobbler

The best cherry cobbler tastes of rich, sweet cherries, has a light, flakey biscuit topping and takes just a few minutes to pull together. In search of the juiciest, most concentrated filling, we tested cobblers with fresh cherries, cobblers with frozen cherries, cobblers with a lot of cornstarch and cobblers with less.

The winner was clear: frozen cherries have the lush, quintessential cherry flavor and perfect velvety texture that make cherry cobbler so beloved. Bonus points for the fact that they don’t require pitting and can be purchased year-round. A quarter cup of cornstarch helps set the fruit without becoming pasty. A dash of almond extract and some vanilla bean paste brings out the fruit’s floral side. We covered the cherries with an easy sweet biscuit dough; a dusting of coarse sugar and flakey sea salt are the finishing touches that takes this cobbler to the next level.

Note: This recipe also works with fresh cherries. If you are looking to use up your bounty, scroll to the bottom of the recipe to see how to adapt it for fresh fruit.

Matt Armendariz / Food Network

Get the Recipe: The Best Cherry Cobbler