fbpx

Who is ready for a huge, floofy fluffball of a dessert?IMG_0855

This is Cherry Chocolate Ice Box Dessert!

AuthorRetroRuth
Rating

From Favorite Recipes of Home Economics Teachers, Desserts, 1963

Tested Recipe!

ShareTweetSaveShare

Yields1 Serving

 ½ pound chocolate-covered graham crackers
 ½ cup melted buttercooled
 1 small tub Cool Whipor 1 package Dream Whip mix
 3 oz cream cheese
 1 can cherry pie filling

1

Cool whole chocolate crackers so the chocolate does not melt. Crush them quite fine and set aside ¼ cup crumbs for the topping.

2

Mix remaining crumbs with butter and press them into a 9x9 pan.

3

Beat whip mix until very stiff. Add cream cheese and mix well. If you are using Cool Whip, cream the cream cheese in a mixer, and add ½ cup of Cool Whip. Mix until cream cheese and Cool Whip are incorporated, then add remaining Cool Whip and mix.

4

Spread cheese mixture carefully over crust. Spread pie filling over the top. Sprinkle reserved crumbs over pie filling.

5

Chill in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours before serving.

Ingredients

 ½ pound chocolate-covered graham crackers
 ½ cup melted buttercooled
 1 small tub Cool Whipor 1 package Dream Whip mix
 3 oz cream cheese
 1 can cherry pie filling

Directions

1

Cool whole chocolate crackers so the chocolate does not melt. Crush them quite fine and set aside ¼ cup crumbs for the topping.

2

Mix remaining crumbs with butter and press them into a 9x9 pan.

3

Beat whip mix until very stiff. Add cream cheese and mix well. If you are using Cool Whip, cream the cream cheese in a mixer, and add ½ cup of Cool Whip. Mix until cream cheese and Cool Whip are incorporated, then add remaining Cool Whip and mix.

4

Spread cheese mixture carefully over crust. Spread pie filling over the top. Sprinkle reserved crumbs over pie filling.

5

Chill in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours before serving.

Cherry Chocolate Ice Box Dessert

This recipe is from the Desserts Volume of the Favorite Recipes of Home Economics Teachers recipes collection. The version I have is from 1963, but these are still in print and you can order them through Amazon.  If you haven’t ever heard of this series and you enjoy vintage recipes, you should check these out. They contain good, crazy and interesting vintage recipes all crammed together in one book. Lots and lots of recipes, which are pretty well organized and they have the information about teachers that submitted each recipe, which sometimes I find more interesting than the recipes themselves.

IMG_0845

In any case, here is a whole sleeve of chocolate grahams.

IMG_0847

I followed the instructions and threw the crushed grahams in the freezer after I had Alex crush them, and the chocolate did not melt, as promised. So, that was a success.

IMG_0852

Fluffy filling! I couldn’t find Dream Whip at my local store, so I substituted a carton of Cool Whip instead. Now, this is fine, but Dream Whip actually sets up very slightly over time, so that you can actually slice things and serve them in slices pretty well without the Dream Whip portion flopping all over the place.

So I guess we are going to see if Cool Whip can do the same thing.

IMG_0853

That…looks pretty good.

IMG_0864

So, here we are after 24 hours of setting up in the fridge. The Cool Whip didn’t do too badly.

IMG_0862

Not great, but not too bad. I think the cherries are a bit heavy and we didn’t smash the grahams enough to make a stable, sliceable base. But not too shabby. At least it’s still sort of in a slice.

And time to taste!

IMG_0907IMG_0909

“What is that face? Is it not good? There’s no way this could be bad.”

“It’s not bad at all. It’s great. It’s just not as sweet as I was expecting. I really like it.”

The Verdict: Great

From The Tasting Notes –

This was, of course, great. It was light, with a slightly sweet creamy filling that went well with the tart cherries. The chocolate grahams were also a great touch. It never really set up completely, but that is fine. Also, this was not as sweet as we thought it would be. I used full-fat cream cheese, so that probably cut the sweetness down.  This dessert was interesting because it would be a great one to tweak for whatever kind of changes you prefer. You could use lightened ingredients in the filling, you could make it sugar free if you buy the right ingredients, you could change the flavor of the base cookies and change out the fruit or leave it off. At my grocery store alone I saw mint, peanut butter and sugar free chocolate-covered cookies. So, go nuts!

  |