As soon as I picked up a copy of ON THIN ICING by Ellie Alexander and saw her recipe for Cherries Jubilee, I knew it was the dish I wanted to make for this blog post! I’ve made Cherries Jubilee numerous times in the past with an old recipe found in my mother’s vintage red and white checkered Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. That OLD recipe calls for using canned cherries and relies heavily on lots of cornstarch and sugar, resulting in a slightly metallic, overly sweet, gloppy ice cream topping. On the other hand, Ellie’s Cherries Jubilee uses fresh (or frozen) cherries with zesty orange citrus to brighten the flavor. With a generous pour of rum to flambé, this dessert will be the star while the ice cream plays a supporting role! Thank you, Ellie, for allowing me to share your gorgeous dessert!
I do have a funny story to share about making Cherries Jubilee (and one I always think of when I make them now!) with my then 4-year-old granddaughter, Emory. She loved to help cook with me, especially desserts, so I had her climb up on a chair and stir the canned cherries and juice into the sugar and cornstarch mixture. I had her get off the chair and stand about 5 feet away from the cooktop while I turned on the gas burner to start heating the mixture up. Something went wrong and it didn’t ignite until 10 seconds after turning it on and all of a sudden the gas went “poof” with flames climbing up the sides of the pan. Emory was far enough away that there wasn’t any danger. After I lowered the flame to low I told her she could start stirring again. She climbed back up on her chair shaking her head and muttering under her breath to no one in particular, “Scared the hell out of me!” Needless to say when it came time to flambé, she was clear on the opposite side of the room. And yes, I did explain that we don’t use language like that…after I finished laughing 🙂
ON THIN ICING is just as sweet of a read as Ellie’s delicious Cherries Jubilee! Jules works at her family’s bakery, Torte, in Ashland, Oregon, home to the world famous Shakespeare Festival. Lance, the Artistic Director for the festival, asks Jules to cater a weekend-long executive board retreat at Lake of the Woods Lodge. Jules jumps at the chance to showcase her cooking with the hopes of expanding Torte’s catering service.
Just as Jules and Sterling, one of Torte’s employees, arrive at the remote mountain resort it begins snowing, with a huge storm in the forecast. Their dinner prep is interrupted by the belligerent, lecherous bartender, Tony, who just so happens to like to get drunk on the job. Jules can’t understand why Mercury, the owner of the lodge, keeps Tony on the payroll, but she’s determined to do a professional job even if the bartender is “hitting” on her. Just when she thinks it can’t get any worse Carlos shows up. Carlos is her estranged husband and she left him sailing on the cruise ship they both worked for in the Mediterranean. Carlos, a sexy Spaniard, is a chef and makes himself at home in the kitchen helping out. He’s determined to work out the issues that split their marriage apart…like the fact that he never told Jules during their three year marriage that he had a son.
As the weather continues to deteriorate so does Tony who hasn’t stopped drinking. He gets into an altercation with one of the board members, and throws a wine bottle at him, ruining his expensive clothing. Then during dinner he starts a fight with Carlos, who was being protective of Jules, and it takes several of the guests and the handyman, to pull them apart. Jules would like Carlos to leave and wait for her back in Ashland so she can concentrate on her catering job, but the storm has blown in and they are stuck.
The next morning Jules is hunting for some of the supplies that Sterling packed away and she stumbles upon the body of Tony, who was stuffed into a freezer. With the storm raging, the phone lines are down, there’s no internet service, and the roads are blocked. Jules knows one of people staying at the lodge is the killer, and she needs to find out before they escape or strike again. But Tony managed to make so many people angry at him that narrowing the field of suspects is daunting. To make matters worse, she can’t count Carlos out as one of the suspects, but can her heart be objective?
ON THIN ICING was a fun read with plenty of suspects to keep me guessing until the very end. The poetic description of the cooking done by Jules and Carlos made me run to the kitchen and start baking something! I could almost taste and smell their creations. Ellie’s use of an isolated setting made the book a bit different from the others set in Ashland, but it was a nice change. She brings the scenery to life and draws you into the story. I liked that we finally got to meet Carlos and I look forward to seeing where the author takes their relationship in future books.
A special thanks to Ellie Alexander for providing an autographed copy of ON THIN ICING to one lucky winner! Please use the Rafflecopter box located below the recipe to enter. Contest is open to U.S. residents only and ends Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 11:59 pm PST. Winners will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!)
Cherries Jubilee
Jules likes to flambé the cherries tableside for a show-stopping presentation.
Ingredients
1 pound of fresh Oregon Bing cherries (pitted and halved) or frozen if not in season
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange rind
1 tablespoon orange juice
1/2 cup rum*
1 pint vanilla ice cream
Instructions
Rinse and drain whole cherries. Cut them in half and discard pits.
Add pitted cherries, orange juice, orange rind, and sugar in a sauté pan.
Sauté on low heat for five minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
Bring heat to medium and cook cherries in their juices for an additional five minutes.
To flambé using a gas stove, remove cherries from the heat and add rum.
Light the rum with a long match, being sure to swirl the pan until the flames subside.
To flambé using an electric stove, add rum to a saucepan and warm it on low for 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat, light rum with a long match, and carefully pour ignited rum over the cherries, swirling the pan until the flames subside.
Serve warm cherries over ice cream.
Tips
Be safe: have a fire extinguisher close by, just in case!
*I used silver rum but gold rum will work just fine too. Both produce small, blue flames. For a show-stopping flambé, use Bacardi 151 which has a very high alcohol content and will flame brilliantly. I only had regular rum on hand… maybe next time I’ll track down some Bacardi 151!
If using frozen cherries, don’t defrost before slicing in half since they will be easier to slice while firm. Just add a couple minutes to cooking time.
Frozen cherries may create more juice than fresh cherries. If the liquid won’t reduce and is too runny, mix 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch with 1 teaspoon cold orange juice or water. Slowly stir the mixture into the cherries BEFORE you add the rum. Simmer for 1 minute and then proceed with the rum and flambé.
If you have any leftover Cherries Jubilee, swirl it through vanilla ice cream and store in an airtight container in the freezer. The rum will keep the dessert from freezing rock hard so you can enjoy this frozen concoction when you’re ready to indulge again!
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Be sure to keep your eyes open for CAUGHT BREAD HANDED by Ellie Alexander, releasing June 28, 2016!
Yes, sadly I have been stranded in a snow storm. I was left at the bottom of a hill at a liquor store unable to move. It was the safest place for me to stop, and I was miffed every time another customer pulling in, made their purchase and left. My husband was ablessed to save me.
I realized I ask readers to comment and then I never answer my questions 🙂 So, I’ll start doing that. I’ve rarely visited the snow in my lifetime so no, I’ve never been stranded in a snow storm…thankfully!
I live in Alabama where we have very little snow, so no I have never been stranded by a snowstorm.
I live in Texas and would love to be stranded in a snowstorm just once in my life!
We moved from the northeast and snow to Florida when we retired! The only thing we miss are the beautiful fall colors so we go up to visit our 3 girls and grandchildren during that season, but since we live in paradise, they always want to come here!
Never stranded in a snow storm but my mom almost was the day I came weeks early in January 1935 in Washington D C. I’d rather be stranded in Ashland.
Nope and I don’t think I would like to be stranded anywhere!! Sounds like a cute book though!!
I was stranded at a mall during a snow storm once. Wish it had been a book store.
I’ve never been stranded in a snowstorm, but have been in enough snow to feel stranded and glad to be somewhere warm and cozy. The last time I had cherries jubilee was on a cruise ship and they made a huge presentation of serving it with sparklers. I love your story about Emory and the cherries!
Yes. and I was born during a blizzard!
Stranded in high school gym during a blizzard.
I think your granddaughter was quite restrained in her response!
And I can’t imagine NOT laughing!
I grew up in northern Minnesota and Alaska—of course I have been stranded by a snow storm–and more than once.
I have never been stranded in a snow storm. However, my family has driven through some awful snowstorms and I always am happy when we reach our destination. I am the one who wants to find a hotel and spend the night. 🙂
Out of the mouths of babes! Stories like that are hilarious and such great memories to have for the years to come. 🙂
We do not have snowstorms in Sunny Florida but we did have an ice storm a few winters ago.
When my parents and I went to North Carolina to visit my brother and his family one Christmas, we were towing a camper with our Suburban. We began having mechanical trouble and had to be towed to a gas station. We stayed in our camper until the mechanical problem was fixed. It was winter, colder than cold, and snowing to beat a band. Thankfully our furnace in the camper worked well and we had food stashed in the cupboards. It was frustrating and a little scary to say the least. [email protected]
I was almost caught in a snow storm but was able to keep going
Yep, at work in Barcelona a few years ago!
Nope, never been stranded.
I must confess to having a decided weakness when it comes to culinary mysteries. This series is new to me, and I am so happy to have learned of it today. Not only is this the type of book that I enjoy reading, but I actually do make the recipes in these books and then often share the experience of both book and recipe on my blog. Thanks for the giveaway.
This would be a great book to add to my cozy challenge list. Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
My husband and I got married in London, where his family all lives. We took our honeymoon early, since my mother was flying in for the wedding and not leaving until the day before we had to return to the US as well. We went to the island of Guernsey and it snowed, not a lot, but enough to shut the entire island down. We had to add an extra day to our trip and finally got out on the only flight out the next day and had to go straight to a different airport to pick up my mother. It was a little crazy, and toward the end, stressful, but it makes for a good story 25 years later, haha.
I’m from southern Michigan and we get plenty of lake effect snow and I have never been stranded in a snow storm. Luckily Michigan takes pretty good care of the roads and these days the media gives plenty of warning when a big storm is on its way.
Yes, in Kentucky!
Not really stranded… but the whole family did get snowed in at my grandparents’ one Christmas when I was little. It was pretty wonderful. Good food, good sledding, fun cousins… And I was far too little to have to shovel any. 😉
Yes I have. When the kids were 3, 5, & 7. We had a snow storm that lasted from early noon through the night. A white out. When I tried to step out side in the morning I slid a few inches. Under the snow was a layer of ice. I called my grandma and she was concerned the heavy snow would be too much for her garage. It was. The roof caved in. Where we were 50 miles away the weight of the snow and ice finally brought down the lines, so we were no longer able to call out. and no more electricity which meant no heat. So I nailed all the spare blankets over the doors and windows. pulled out the sleeping bags, rounded up the candelabras, and all the candles. The Fondue pot and the canned meat, soups, tuna, bread and the kids and I moved into their bedroom, the biggest one. Also gathered up some games. We lived in that bedroom for 5 days. Told the kids we were going to practice camping. Kept the candles lit which helped keep the temperature up. The kids wore double socks. We had fun. Treated the whole thing as a great adventure. The food wasn’t exactly hot. but it was warm. And the snow and ice split the big shrub at the side of the house in half. That was a bummer. but everything else? No sweat. Life is what you make it. You can either roll with the punches or you can let them drown you, because humor is as attitude. I choose life. Not gloom. 2 of my 3 kids also choose humor. I have one who likes to wallow. We all think he is a fool. But hey. Life is what WE make of it. Love this recipe! Just so happens, have everything on hand. So guess what we are having for dessert tonight? Since Tony was being an absolute idiot and made everyone mad, looks like Jules has her work cut out for her. I would like to find out who dunit. Sooner rather than later. Thanks for the chance to do so
Yay, thanks for the opportunity!
I’ve never been stranded in a snow storm. We do get lots of snow but I keep my eye on the weather and leave before it gets bad.
No, I’ve never been stranded in a snow storm, but, back home in Nebraska, we had a blizzard and couldn’t get through on any of the streets leading to a grocery store. My then husband and a few other men in the neighborhood walked to the store to pick up provisions. A normal 40 minute walk took them almost three hours.
Thanks Kim for another great blog today & for a chance to win On Thin Ice!
Yes was stranded before had to wait for boyfriend’s dad to come pull us out of the snow bank.
Yes, sometimes days on the farm.. My son & family for 12 hours at a Walmart parking lot because the interstate was closed!
this series looks like a great one to read this summer by the pool!
I live in Northern CA and I have never had problems with snow!
I have never been stranded but I have been snowed in at my own home. We live in a rural area and a snowstorm made the roads impassable for two days.
Connie
cps1950(at)gmail(dot)com
I haven’t ever been stranded anywhere. Boring life, aye? lol Thank you for the chance to win!
Luckily, I have never been stranded in a snowstorm, unless you count at home! LOL There’s been twice we were snowed in at my parents’ house, but we did that on purpose because they have a generator and we do not. 😉 My son thought that was a great adventure, the two of us and all 3 dogs at my parents’. LOL
Yes, I live in Michigan and in the 70’s I was stranded at home, thankfully for more than a week due to one of the biggest blizzards in their history. It was a mess!!!! ??
Back in the early 70s, when I was about 11, my family was on the way home from Denver to Amarillo and we got stuck in a snowstorm. We were in the car for ten hours before they showed up in a very large machine to take us to a small, nearby town. The sight of the machine (not sure what it was) scared the living daylights of me and my father had to lift me up, screaming and crying, to get inside. We spend the next day in the town until the snow had melted enough that we could drive home, which was a little more than an hour away.
no but I should have been..lol made it to work driving 37 miles after getting stuck in my driveway in a blizzard..didnt want to ruin my perfect attendance..got a thank you and a free cup of coffee from the D.C. manager,for risking my life..lol oh well.
Coming back from N.C., we were dropped off at the ferry terminal in Mulkletio, Wa. at 3 AM with no ferry till 6. Of course there was no shelter but the overhang on the bathroom building, and then it starts to snow!!! Complete and total misery with home a 17 minute ride across. We have been snowed in where we cannot leave our house for a few days here on Whidbey Island a couple of times in 20 years. When you are at home it can be a very fun adventure! Thank you for the chance!