Ode to Cherries and Cream cheese!

Cherries have always been a favourite of mine.  What's not to like?  Well they do have pits, but other than that they are super yum! 


For the longest time our family has had a fantastic cherry dessert, and if you're a fan of cheesecake you'll be sure to enjoy this recipe.  It's simple to make, and for the newbies in the kitchen your friends, or perhaps significant other will wonder where you learned to make this scrumptious dessert!   It's okay you can tell them it's from Thedailygourmet!

The crust is truly simple.  It's similar to a shortbread but with the crunch of pecans. 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt

With a pastry blender, blend
together the first 4 ingredients.
Next, add in 1 cup of chopped pecans. 
This is where it gets the yummy
crunchy goodness!

Preheat oven to 350°, and then press in the crust mixture into the bottom of a 9"x13" glass casserole dish.  Bake for 20 minutes and allow to cool.

While the yummy crust is baking you will want to get the filling started.

You need:
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 - 8ounce package of cream cheese
1 - 9ounce container of cool whip
1 tsp vanilla extract
Measure out the powdered sugar and sift it.  In a mixing bowl, cream together the powdered sugar and cream cheese.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Gently fold in the cool whip.  See how easy this is?!




Before...

After the crust has sufficiently cooled, it's time to spread the creamy white filling on top.  I like to drop it by using a spring loaded ice cream scoop.  You don't have to, but I like to have the filling level.

After

Now time for the cherries!!!! *Licking lips*  You can use just 1 (21 ounce) can of cherry pie filling, but I'm a cherry lover, so I crank it up to 2 (21 ounce) cans*  Side note to say, I do not use the entire second can.  Next step.  Let this beauty chill for about 30 minutes-1 hour  

Oh MMM Gee.  Silence.  Cherry Perfection!