Cherry Kissing Cordial

Excerpted from Stephanie L. Tourles’ Making Love Potions.

Gorgeously deep red, this spicy, tart-sweet cherry cordial is perfect for sipping on chilly evenings as you and your beloved revel in each other’s company by a crackling fire. The cherry brandy flavor is divinely intense and warming as it dances across your tongue, making this an intriguing “kissing cordial,” to say the least!

Ingredients

• 1 cup good-quality 80-proof brandy
• 1/2 cup tart cherry concentrate
• 1/3 cup raw honey, raw agave nectar, or maple syrup
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole allspice berries
• 1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

To Make

Combine the brandy, cherry concentrate, honey, cinnamon, allspice, and vanilla bean in a pint-size canning jar. Cover the jar with a piece of plastic wrap and screw on the lid. Shake the mixture vigorously for at least 15 seconds to blend. Let the cordial steep in a cool, dark place for 4 weeks, shaking the contents daily to encourage the flavors to mingle and mellow.

Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer. Store in a decorative bottle, to which you’ve added a beautiful label, in the refrigerator and consume within 3 months.

To Serve

Pour a small amount of chilled beverage into two tiny cordial cups or beautiful, slender stemware. (Or perhaps use your lover’s belly button as an enticing cup from which to sip?) Because it can be quite intoxicating, consume just a bit, or you may become too relaxed to romp!

About the Book:

Herbs are hot! And in Making Love Potions, best-selling author Stephanie L. Tourles shows you how to bring that heat into your bedroom. Tourles playfully presents 64 easy recipes for natural body oils, balms, tonics, bath blends, and sweet treats to share with your special someone. This celebration of life and pleasure arouses the senses with such irresistible recipes as “Come Hither” Body Powder, Cocoa-Chai “Kiss ‘n’ Make Up” Lip Butter, and Vanilla Intrigue Massage Oil. Most recipes use simple, common ingredients, making them both easy and quick to prepare. With beautiful illustrations and engaging explanations of the power that herbs, flowers, and natural oils have over our physical bodies, Making Love Potions is the perfect gift for herb lovers—and all lovers—everywhere.

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