“We started making this at the bakery when a staff member remarked that her grandmother made a dessert just like our cream cheese chocolate pudding squares but with cherry pie filling instead. It turned out to be even more popular with our customers.” Excerpt From: Jennifer Appel. “The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/idq2G.l

RECIPE LINK

This recipe reminded me a lot of a desert my mother used to make called “Cherry-O-Cheesecake”. The crust in this recipe is NOT the graham cracker crust my mother used, and “cheesecake” was not the right word for her delicious desert. This desert comes from the Icebox Deserts section of Magnolia – the crust is the only part that is cooked.

This desert is definitely layered: Crust-filling-crushed pecans (my addition)

-cherries-whipped cream

pecans for deco.

DETOURS AND LEARNING CURVES?

Hmmm. What did I do differently from the recipe? Not much. I added a layer of crushed pecans between the cream cheese and cherries (probably not a worthwhile addition) and splashed a couple of tablespoons of Spanish brandy onto the cherries (Mom would probably not approve).

What about that tart pan? The cookbook says to put this in a glass pie dish. But I LOVE my fluted tart pans – L O V E ! ! So I took a chance (sometimes the only way to learn) and, voilà, it worked. The bottom of the tart pan is removable. The “pie” slipped right out of the mold and was lovely to behold – thankfully.

THANKS, MOM. I LOVE YOU.

HAVE A SWEET DAY – AND SHARE IT WITH SOMEONE