Cherries are rich in anthocyanins and help to reduce inflammation, lower triglycerides, and cholesterol. Eating cherries can improve your sleep cycle due to melatonin that helps regulate your body.

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Here are five healthy cherry recipes you can make at home:

1. Cherry Pie

Ingredients required:

• 4 cups cherries, fresh or frozen
• 1 to 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1/8 tbsp. almond extract
• 4 tbsp. cornstarch
• Pie dough
• 1 ½ tbsp. butter
• 1 tbsp. granulated sugar

How to prepare:
Place the cherries in a saucepan and let it cook till it loses a considerable amount of juice. Remove the cherries from the heat, then mix it with some cornstarch and sugar. Add some almond extract and mix well. Cook the cherry pie filling in a saucepan till cherries thicken. Line a baking dish. Take the pie dough and prepare two crusts. Pour the pie filling into the crust. Add butter and cover it with the second crust. Moisten the edges of the crust and make a cut on top to let the steam pass through. Sprinkle some sugar on top and bake the pie in a preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 50 minutes. Once the crust turns golden brown, remove it from oven and the cherry pie is ready to serve.

2. Cherry Cheesecake

Ingredients required:

• 9-inch graham cracker crust
• An 8-ounce packet of cream cheese
• 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 21-ounce can of cherry pie filling

How to prepare:
Take a container and add some softened cream cheese. Add lemon juice, condensed milk, and vanilla. Beat this mixture until the ingredients blend. Take a pie crust and add the cream cheese filling. Let this mixture chill in the freezer for 5 hours and the cherry cheesecake is ready to serve.

3. Cherry Brandy

Ingredients required:

• 4 cups fresh ripe cherries
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 750ml brandy bottle

How to prepare:
Wash the cherries and remove the stems and pits. Chop the cherries and then mash it. Place the mashed cherries in a plastic container or a glass bottle. Dissolve some sugar in brandy and pour it over the cherries. Cover the container and let it sit in a cool place for 4 to 6 months; strain out the cherries and serve.

4. Cherry Blossom Cake

Ingredients required:

• 300 gm chopped cherry
• 250 gm polenta
• 4 large eggs
• 250 gm caster sugar
• 250 gm butter, softened
• 2 ½ tsp baking powder
• 150 ml yogurt
• 1 tsp orange blossom water
• ½ orange juice

For syrup:

• Juice of 1 orange
• 3 tbsp golden caster sugar
• ½ tsp orange blossom water

For cherry icing

• 50 gm cherries
• 175 gm icing sugar

How to prepare:
Mix some cherries with 50 gm polenta and keep aside. Mix some butter and sugar till the mixture becomes fluffy. Then add eggs and continue mixing. Add the polenta, almonds, baking powder, yogurt, orange blossom water, orange juice, and cherry mix. Pour this mixture in the baking dish and bake for 45 minutes at 160 degrees C. For the syrup, boil orange juice and sugar then add some orange blossom water and cool it down for a few minutes. Pour this syrup on the cake. For the icing, mix some icing sugar with cherries and blend it well and top it up with whole cherries and serve.

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5. Black Forest Trifle

Ingredients required:

• An 8-ounce packet of chocolate sugar-free cake mix
• ¾ cup water
• 1-ounce chocolate sugar-free pudding mix
• 2 cups milk
• 16-ounce frozen cherries
• Red food color
• 2 cups thawed whipped topping

How to prepare:
Prepare the cake mix using water and bake at 375 degrees F. Remove the cake from the oven and cut into cubes. Bake the pudding using milk and let it cool down for 30 minutes. Mix thawed cherries, juice, and food color. Take a trifle bowl and add the cake cubes, cherries, then spread the pudding and top it with some whipped topping. Keep repeating the layers again and chill the trifle for 8 hours before serving.  

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