Grandma Martin’s Cherry Jell-O
Roberta Martin, my great grandma, didn’t have many recipes to call her own. This is because she grew up during the great depression, so a “recipe” for her was more like “chop up hotdogs and serve them with potatoes”. Roberta had the usual characteristics of those who grew up during her era: using water sparingly, growing her own vegetables, and never bringing her own dishes to family gatherings. At least until someone reminded her of her bomb dot com Jell-O recipe, which she was always willing to prepare and bring for some reason.
I love this Jell-O. Compared to other desserts from my family, this one is not too calorie dense, and also requires no baking. It is a 3-layer Jell-O that requires chilling in the fridge for Layer 1 and Layer 3, whereas Layer 2 is a simple dream whip spread in between the chilled Jell-O layers. The bottom layer has a pineapple flavor while the top layer has a much stronger cherry flavor from the Bing cherries.
Cherry Jell-O
Ingredients
Instructions
- Dump 2 cherry jell-o packets into pitcher. Fill with boiling water.
- Add 2 cups of cherry juice and whisk. Pour 2 cups into a smaller pitcher for later.
- Add crushed pineapple and whisk again.
- Pour pineapple/cherry mixture into casserole dish.
- Refrigerate for 2 - 4 hours.
- In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and dream whip with electric mixer.
- Spread dream whip mixture on top of layer 1 as if you are frosting a cake. It may help to microwave the dream whip mixture to warm it a bit.
- Chop all Bing cherries into halves.
- Mix the cherries with the cherry juice mixture you set aside during Layer 1.
- Pour juice with cherries over Layer 2 and distribute Bing cherries evenly.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours.