by Texas Homesteader ~
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There’s a favored family holiday no-cook sweet cherry dessert that my family loves. It’s filled with deliciousness such as cherry pie filling, whipped topping, crushed pineapple, cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. And it’s requested, errrrr… demanded every year by all in my family that I bring it. Luckily for me it’s super easy to whip together and requires NO COOKING.

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In our family there are certain dishes that are requested year after year for certain family members to bring to special holiday meal gatherings. 

For my mother it’s her chocolate pies. That delicious family recipe goes back at least to my great grandmother and maybe even further. It’s a highly-guarded secret family recipe.

RancherMan always gets requests for his delicious version of green bean casserole.

And sister usually gets requested to make her deviled eggs. For me? It’s always (aaaaaaalways) a sweet cherry desserty dish I call Cherry Shtuff.

I’m not really sure what its official name would be – maybe cherry salad? Maybe cherry fluff?

Whatever the official name is, in our family for decades it’s been called Cherry Shtuff and it’s a non-negotiable part of the holidays!

Simple No-Bake Cherry Dessert Ingredients

First I assemble the simple ingredients:

• • One can of cherry pie filling (I like Comstock brand the best but it’s pretty pricey so today I’m using a generic brand), 
  • A block of cream cheese,
  • One  can of crushed pineapple,
  • A can of sweetened condensed milk (I make my own but you can buy a can if you like) and
  • A small tub of whipped dessert topping.

UPDATE: These days I make my own Cherry Pie Filling. That way there’s more actual ‘cherry’ in my cherry pie filling! I’ve used canned, frozen and even dehydrated cherries. 

Making A Sweet Cherry No-Bake Dessert

Anyway, once I have everything assembled, here’s how my no-cook Cherry Shtuff dessert all comes together:

First I drain my pineapple and set it aside.

Now when our kids were small our youngest daughter always asked to drink the drained pineapple juice. So even now when I’m making Cherry Shtuff for the holidays I miss her asking for it!

Sweet memories…

Then I whip up my homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk. It’s so easy using only a few ingredients:

• • Powdered Milk
  • Boiling Water
  • Melted Butter
  • Sugar
  • Vanilla extract

Blend it all together and then BOOM! Sweetened condensed milk. Why pay over $3 for a can when it’s just this dang easy to make it yourself??!

Cream Cheese Snafu Fixed!

Now it’s time to mix in the cream cheese. Now thinking ahead and bringing the cream cheese out of the fridge to soften before starting this recipe in the first place would have been just great, huh??!

But sometimes during the holidays we highfalutin‘ chefs don’t practice much forethought. Or is that just me?  (eh hemm…)

Using a fork and then a whisk to try to smoothly blend my cold cream cheese with my sweetened condensed milk just wasn’t doing it for me. I just couldn’t get it smooth enough.

But several weeks ago I bought a * Ninja Master Prep Set and I can’t say enough about it. (No, they didn’t pay me a dime to say that – I just love it that much!)

So RancherMan suggested using the Ninja since I already had it out on the counter (duh!)

Since I’d already dirtied the smaller Ninja while making my homemade sweetened condensed milk I wanted to use it instead of dirtying up my larger Ninja as well. But I was afraid it wouldn’t hold all of the milk/cream cheese mixture at once without making a mess. (See??  FORETHOUGHT!)

To avoid a mess I put half the milk and half the cream cheese into the smaller Ninja. Then I whirred it around for about 10 seconds and it was perfectly smooth & creamy.

I poured it into my mixing bowl and then I did the second half. Done and DONE!

Mixing Up The Dessert

Now that my cream cheese & milk mixture is smooth and poured into my mixing bowl I add a can of cherry pie filling and gently fold it all together.

Then I stir the drained pineapple into the mixture, and finally I fold in the whipped topping.

You can use the whole tub of whipped topping, but I find that it makes it a little TOO floofy for my liking.

Yes, floofy is a word, I’ve deemed it so! I usually use about 3/4 of the tub of whipped topping.

When all is blended thoroughly I like to sprinkle chopped pecans on top to make it look pretty and to give it a light nutty crunch.

Now I’m all done – dessert in minutes with no cooking!

And because you asked so nicely I’ll share my super fast no-bake cherry dessert recipe with you!

~TxH~

Want More Holiday Cooking Tips & Recipes?

• Holiday Cooking Shortcuts & Tips
• Enjoy The Holiday – Pre-Cook The Turkey
• How To Spatchcock & Smoke A Whole Turkey With Pecan Wood

SIDE DISHES

• RancherMan’s Green Bean Casserole Recipe
• Quick & Easy Roasted Vegetables
• Zesty Ranch-Style Beans
• Rosemary Rice

DESSERTS

• MYO Cherry Pie Filling Quickly
• Apple Pie With Home-Canned Apples
• Easy Instant Pot Cheesecake
• Pumpkin Bread (with Cake Mix Shortcut)
• Easy, Healthy Breakfast Muffins
• Honey-Sweetened Whipped Cream
• Double Pie Crust Recipe

BREAD

• No-Knead Skillet Bread
• Basic Beer Bread (flavor as you wish!)
• Quick & Easy Jalapeno Cornbread

INGREDIENTS

• MYO Sweetened Condensed Milk
• MYO Broth Easily!
• Easy Cream-Of-ANYTHING Soup Recipe
• Easier Peeling For Boiled Eggs
• How To Tell If Your Baking Powder Is Still Good

FOOD SAFETY

• What Do The Dates On The Food Labels Mean?
• Keeping Hot Dishes HOT In Transit
• Keeping Food Safely COLD

C’mon by & sit a spell!  Come hang out at our Facebook Page . It’s like sitting in a front porch rocker with a glass of cold iced tea.  There are lots of good folks sharing!  And you can also follow along on Pinterest, Instagram & Twitter

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