Blackberry Cordial with Cream and Chocolate

Every summer we pick blackberries. We pick a lot of blackberries. We make a lot of cobblers, dumplings, and of course jam and freezer jam.

Every year after the standards are made we also make something a little more unusual. One year it was a drink concentrate, blackberry shrub. Another year we let the berries ferment into blackberry vinegar. Last May when I saw the post Berry Cordial Making over at Not Dabbling in Normal, I knew what we'd be making that summer.

Creating the berry cordial is simply a matter of mixing the berries and vodka in a jar. Then you wait. Strain, and mix the berries with sugar, and wait again. After a month you strain again, enjoy the berries over ice cream (they were so good!) and let the cordial sit again for a few months. It is an extremely simple process that just involves quite a bit of wait time. For more specific instructions see Berry Cordial Making.

When it was finally ready I couldn't wait to taste it. The first taste was with the cordial over ice. It was good, but a little strong. My sister in law suggested serving it with a little cream, kind of like a white Russian. It was a very good suggestion. We filled a glass with ice and then filled it about 3/4 full of the cordial, and topped it off with cream. It was quite delicious, but what really put this drink over the top was a squirt of chocolate syrup. So good.....too good...

I still have a few quarts of berries in the freezer. I was planning to use them to make some more jam, but we may just have to forgo the jam and make more cordial. We can make jam in July when there are more fresh berries to use!