The way I eat ice cream in a shop is very different from how I serve it at home.
I’ll order a single scoop or two, and just enjoy the cold treat without buying any additional toppings.  No crunchy nuts, no gooey syrup, not even chocolate chips.

But when I have ice cream at home, I will search for some goodies as toppings, or make some on my own.  Cherry compote happens to be one of those toppings that  can be easily homemade,  and instantly upgrade my plain vanilla ice cream to a sundae level dessert.

I usually use about 12 pitted cherries to make just enough to top 4 small bowls of ice cream.   After they are served, I don’t have to worry about storage containers or how long before I have to finish it up, that’s the best thing I love about small batch recipes.

I loosely follow David Lebovitz’s recipe here.  For my small batch, I took out the almond extract and liqueur (Kirsch/Cherry Brandy),  but add I them back when I make them in larger quantity for cake toppings.

VERY SMALL BATCH CHERRY COMPOTE
Source
INGREDIENTS :

- 12-15 fresh cherries, wash, stemmed, halved and pitted
- 2 tablespoons sugar

 INSTRUCTIONS :

01. In a non-reactive small saucepan (one that does not react/get stained with acidic ingredients), put in the cherries and sugar to cook over a small fire for about 10 minutes, stirring with a spoon frequently.
02. Because I am cooking such a small batch of cherries, I usually encourage faster juicing from the cherries by pressing them with the back of the spoon against the pan once they turn soft.  This will also prevent the sugar from getting burnt without having enough liquid in the pan.
03. When the mixture starts to look thickened, and the cherries have completely cooked, remove the pan from the fire and let cool.  It will thicken up further.