This is one of my all time favorite desserts. It is a very luscious dessert, it's super easy to make (no baking). It also looks so pretty with the red and white colors.
I was thinking back to when I first made this dessert, and I'm pretty sure it was during college, so I've been making it for 40 years, and it wasn't a new recipe when I got it from one of the church ladies. It's been a while since I've made it, and it is just as wonderful as I remembered.
The only confusing part of the recipe might be the pack of Dream Whip. DW packs come in a cardboard box with four pouches of dream whip powder. That is what I use, but I would imagine you could buy the Dream Whip in the plastic containers. They may not have made it in containers when the recipe was first going around. Not sure on that.
I'm sure you could use other pie fillings like blueberry or strawberry with this recipe, but I love the pie cherries which I could eat with a spoon out of the can.
I hope you love Cherry Yum Yum as much as I do!
Cherry Yum Yum Recipe
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
¼ cup sugar (for the crust and 3/4 cup later for the Dream Whit mixture)
1 pack Dream Whip 4 oz size (This is a pack of powder and usually comes 4 pouches to a cardboard box.)
½ cup milk (I use whole milk.)
¾ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pack of cream cheese 8 oz (Let it sit out a while, so it will mix easier.)
1 can of cherry pie filling 22 oz
Directions:
Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, ¼ cup sugar, and melted butter. Save ¼ cup or so of the mixture to sprinkle on top.
Press the crumb mixture in the bottom of an an oblong baking
dish – size around 8 x 12. It's easier to use your fingers to press down the crumb crust.
Use a mixer to whip the milk and package of Dream Whip until fluffy and shiny.
Add ¾ cup sugar, vanilla, and cream cheese to Dream Whip mix and mix until evenly distributed.
Layer the Dream Whip mixture and the pie filling. First layer is half the DW on top of the crust. Then, use a spoon to dallop half of the pie filling on top. Add the rest of the Dream Whip and spread out. Dallop the rest of the cherries. Top with the saved graham cracker crumb mix.
Chill for a couple of hours or overnight.
