Chilled Cherry Soup

I am sooo excited. There are just 3 weeks between me and a cruise to an island paradise! Three weeks and then I will be laying on deck, watching the waves go by. Three weeks and I will be snorkeling with the boy in Mexico. Three weeks and I will be treated and fed like a princess. This last aspect may be my favorite part of any cruise.

For those of you who have never cruised, do. You become so relaxed because everything is taken care of for you. You want a towel? Soon you will have one folded into a swan. You want food? Here, have a 6 course meal with at least 3 choices for each course. I’m telling you, it is so hard to readjust to real-life afterwards. You have to cook, clean and think about issues beyond whether you want the shrimp cocktail or duck confit as your appetizer.

This dish is a prelude to my tropical vacation on the seas. As I just mentioned, there are many choices of what to eat on a cruise, but my favorites are the chilled fruit soups. Sometimes they are as a soup course, other times as a dessert. I made this chilled cherry soup as a dessert.

This is my first entry into Sugar High Fridays. The theme was tropical sweets. Because it is what I have while cruising, chilled fruit soups say tropical to me. I chose cherry just out of practicality, because I had 2 cups of frozen tart cherries from when I went fruit picking.

Tips and comments- It ended up a little tart, so I sprinkled chopped semisweet chocolate on top. That fixed it right up! I love the combination of chocolate and cherries, so perhaps next time I would blend some chocolate into the soup, then also top with chocolate shavings.

Chilled Cherry Soup

1. In a blender, combine 1 cup cold tart cherries (mine were halved, frozen cherries, defrosted) with ½ a cup orange juice until smooth. (Would also add chocolate during this step next time)

2. Add a dash of chili powder, and cinnamon and a few drops of lemon juice. Combine.
3. Pour into a bowl. Take a spoonful of raspberry syrup and make a design (I tried a flower by making a circle and using a skewer to drag 4 points to the middle, as well as a heart). If you don’t like your design, stir the syrup into the soup and try again. 4) Chop or shave chocolate and sprinkle on top.