Well, I told you about the cherry smoothie I made from the summer cherries I put into the freezer for safe-keeping. A lot of good those will be to me in the fall since I subsequently used them all for a liquid breakfast every morning thereafter until they were.

What I didn't tell you is what I did with the cherries I kept fresh on the counter. You, my Slashfood faithful friends, suggested clafouti to spare my fingers the chore of pitting cherries, as well as a multitude of recommendations for what I should do with the result of my gluttonous run at the market. I took the advice of a few and made...

...cherry sauce.

I thought about cherries jubilee at first, for what is cherries jubilee other than the alcoholic cousin of a regular cherry sauce? Seeing as how I am of the firm belief that a little liquor never hurt anyone (a little, mind you), it made sense, but unfortunately, adding alcohol to anything these days is a risky option with a pregnant sister around. Instead, I went with a simple cherry sauce. There's no need to add too many other things like excess sugar or spices because the cherries were naturally sweet in their own right, and don't need help in the flavor category.

Sarah's Simple Cherry Sauce

Wash, halve and pit enough fresh ripe cherries to make about 2 c. of pitted cherries.

In a saucepan, heat 1/2 c water with 1/4 to 1/3 c of sugar, depending on how sweet you want the sauce. Because this isn't candy, it's okay to start with less and add more later after tasting. When the sugar dissolves, add the cherries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. I think "stirring constantly" is there so that impatient cooks like me have something to do while waiting. Cook until the cherries are soft -- it will take about five minutes.

I suspect that the cherry sauce would taste great if made using am unsweetened fruit juice instead of water. If I actually had any cherries left, I would have tried pomegranate juice.

Now, the cherry sauce was simple. It was what came after that was a little more exciting.

The first time I used the cherry sauce, I re-heated it, then poured it over scoops of vanilla ice cream as a dessert for party guests. It was a decent hit.

The second time I used the cherry sauce, I re-heated it, then poured it over a scoop of vanilla ice cream that was sitting on a stack of chocolate pancakes, then drizzled the whole thing with chocolate syrup.

It wasn't that different from the dessert I served my guests, but the person who tried it was eating it for brunch. Chocolate pancakes with vanilla ice cream and cherry sauce before noon is a big deal.

Incidentally, if you need a recipe for chocolate pancakes, I simply used my standard pancake recipe, and added 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients.