RECIPES | threewomeninthekitchen

deborahreinhardt

Aug 193 min read

No-Bake Cherry Cloud Pie

This easy recipe combines non-dairy topping, cherry gelatin and a graham cracker crust for a delicious, fluffy summer dessert.

a slice of fluffy no-bake cherry pie on a plate with a fork — No-Bake Cherry Cloud Pie

If you need a cool dessert fast, easy No-Bake Cherry Cloud Pie is the way to go. With only three ingredients plus a few fresh cherries as garnish, you can have a pretty pie without heating your oven for a late summer cookout, party, or game night.

This no-bake pie has a retro vibe. I’m reminded of the cherry fluff dessert that was the rage 40 or more years ago. If you’ve not heard of cherry fluff, it’s made with 2 cartons of Cool Whip®, 1 can of cherry pie filling, 1 can of pineapple chunks (I’ve also seen crushed pineapple here), 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and 1 cup of sour cream. Ingredients are combined, spread in a 9x13-inch pan, and sprinkled with some type of chopped nuts (pecans, peanuts are commonly used) and chilled for several hours.

I’m not sure, but I think cherry fluff had to be served at a ladies’ bridge gathering or it wasn’t a party.

No-Bake Cherry Cloud Pie is even easier than cherry fluff! You also could use any flavor of Jell-o, but because I recently returned from a fabulous getaway to Door County, Wisconsin, where cherries are plentiful in summer, my flavor profile was easy to choose.

pink cherry fluff pie on a glass cake stand on top of lace-covered table — No-Bake Cherry Cloud Pie is pretty on a table.

To make Easy No-Bake Cherry Pie, which serves 8 to 10 people, you’ll need these ingredients:

1 premade graham cracker crust pie shell
1 (3-ounce) carton cherry Jell-o
1 (8-ounce) carton Cool Whip, thawed

Just as you could swap any flavor of Jell-o, you could use a chocolate wafer cookie crust here. I had leftover Maria biscuits and used those. If you want to make your own crust, you’ll add ¾ stick of melted butter to the finely crushed cookies or wafers. Mix until well combined and press into a pie pan to chill about 30 minutes before filling.

Directions for No-Bake Cherry Cloud Pie

Mix Jell-o into thawed whipped topping until well combined.

Spoon into crust. Smooth top of pie and chill for 4 to 6 hours.

Garnish with fresh cherries and serve. Another pretty way to garnish would be making Reddi-Wip® “roses” around the pie and placing a cherry in each rose.

More pie tips

This sweet dessert is a splurge in calories. In fact, I recommend you don't look at the nutrition info on the recipe card. But look, we don't have to eat fresh fruit all summer for our desserts, right? I think it's a fun end-of-summer treat the family will enjoy.

You can freeze slices of this pie to enjoy later, too. Because our household is small, I didn’t want this in my refrigerator for several days, so I sliced most of it and froze in individual air-tight containers for later.

Give this recipe for No-Bake Cherry Cloud Pie a try. It delivers in presentation and taste with hardly any effort.

bio info with photo of author drinking coffee

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.

deborahreinhardt

Aug 85 min read

Lemon Icebox Cake with Blueberries

Vanilla biscuits, whipped cream, lemon curd and fresh blueberries come together in this recipe for a delicious no-bake summer dessert.

Marie biscuits layered with whipping cream and lemon curd on serving plate on lemon designed tablecloth — Lemon Icebox Cake with Blueberries

Here we are in August! It feels a little like summer is slipping through my fingers; what about you? I’m not ready to give up lemonade for pumpkin spice lattes just yet, nor do I want to preheat my oven to make a dessert. So, here is the first of several posts this month to celebrate no-bake desserts! Today, I’m highlighting the icebox cake. This itieration of the American classic is a Lemon Icebox Cake with Blueberries.

A cousin to the English trifle, icebox cakes became popular in the 1920s thanks to the convergence of Nabisco chocolate wafers and affordable iceboxes. By the 1930s, refrigerator manufacturers focused on cuisines that would showcase their electric appliance as indispensable. So, icebox cakes and other layered cold or frozen desserts were popular.

But this really is more of a pudding than a cake. The idea is the wafers or biscuits are nestled in a good deal of whipped cream and left overnight in the refrigerator to become super soft. Although the early chocolate-wafer-whipped-cream version remains delicious, I was inspired to work with lemons and fresh blueberries after seeing this icebox cake in a magazine.

author holding magazine article showing lemon icebox cake — What I was going for when making my icebox cake!

You’ve no doubt noted my version doesn’t closely resemble the inspiration photo! There were some construction challenges for me, but I will make this one again because unlike the traditional icebox cakes that are formed in a square or oblong dish, this cake looked like a blossoming flower! So, read on to learn how to make my Lemon Icebox Cake with Blueberries and I’ll share tip to help you make this delicious summer no-bake dessert.

To make Lemon Icebox Cake with Blueberries, which makes 10 servings, you will need these ingredients:

3 cups heavy whipping cream
3 Tablespoons confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
1 (10-ounce) jar prepared lemon curd
60 (approximately) Marie biscuits
½ pint fresh blueberries
Lemon slices for garnish

The inspiration for this recipe used lemon zest but I didn’t think that would pack enough pucker, so I decided to swap zest for prepared lemon curd. I used the Dickinson’s brand

but be advised that this one is on the sweeter side. When I make this icebox cake again, I’ll reduce the sugar added to whipping cream by at least 1 tablespoon.

Why Marie biscuits? These are larger than the standard vanilla wafers often used in icebox cakes. The Marie biscuits are what create the petal effect I mentioned earlier. I found a large box of these at Walmart but save what you didn’t use for this recipe. I knew these are wonderful when dunked in tea, but I didn't know until recently that these biscuits date to 1874 when first made by Peek Freans, a London bakery. These thin cookies are enjoyed around the world.

box of Maria's biscuits, jar of lemon curd and bowl of fresh blueberries on counter with sunflower patterned placemat — Marie or Maria biscuits have been enjoyed since 1874.

Directions for Icebox Cake with Blueberries

Wash berries and place flat on a clean kitchen towel to air dry.

In a large bowl, beat the cream and sugar on high until stiff peaks form. In my long and troubled journey with whipping cream, I’ve learned that your cream and bowl must be cold. Like, really cold, and it’s best to use a metal bowl because it keeps colder longer as the cream is whipping. And an optional addition here if you had it would be a few drops of lemon extract.

Arrange several Marie biscuits on your serving plate. Remember, you’re not transferring this icebox cake once it’s been assembled, so use the cake stand or serving plate on which you intend to present it. Depending on the size of your plate, start with anywhere from 6 to 8 wafers.

Tip: I made a thin layer of whipped cream on the serving plate before I laid down the first biscuit layer to keep the wafers in place.

Transfer whipped cream into a pastry bag and pipe enough to cover top of biscuits (about ¾ cup).

Full disclosure: my layering process went a bit off the rails. I folded about 5 ounces of lemon curd into the whipped cream so didn’t get to the full eight layers the inspiration recipe called for because I ran out of “glue.” I also tried strategically placing blueberries at each layer, but that adversely affected how the thin wafers stacked up. Here’s what I will do next time.

Place several biscuits on top of whipped cream. Transfer the lemon curd into another pastry bag and cover the second layer. Repeat this layering process, alternating between whipped cream and lemon curd, until you’ve used all the cookies.

Top with whipped cream, fresh blueberries, and lemon slices. Refrigerate overnight. Slice and enjoy!

Tip: If you want more blueberries in the layers, consider making an easy blueberry sauce with 1 cup of blueberries, ½ cup water and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Bring to a low boil and allow berries to break apart. Cool the mixture before spooning over the icebox cake layers. Use any leftover sauce over pancakes or waffles!

How to store Lemon and Blueberry Icebox Cake

This was a little tricky. I think it would be best if this dessert could be enjoyed at once—say a wedding or baby shower or Sunday family dinner—but it could keep for one or two days if covered with plastic wrap. Honestly, it didn’t look great after two days but still tasted great.

In the final analysis, Lemon Blueberry Icebox Cake is a bit of a challenge and probably should be presented once to wow and feed several people, but I do like this recipe because it’s different than the traditional pan dessert. I loved the addition of lemon curd in this recipe. While I enjoy the combination of blueberries and lemon, it was a little cumbersome to this circular design. Next time, I’ll make the easy blueberry sauce or simply use a few blueberries to decorate the top.

I’ll always keep these posts real for y’all, and as a passionate home cook, I realize there are trials and errors in our kitchens. I hope you will learn from my mistakes on this first attempt at Lemon Blueberry Icebox Cake and put your own twists on this recipe. Comment below or message me if you tried it.

Tasteful tip

If you want all the lemon flavor and don't mind heating your oven, Tastefully Simple's Sunny Lemon Pound Cake & Icing Mix is the way to go! Cube the baked cake and make a lemon-blueberry trifle by layering pound cake, whipped cream, and fresh blueberries in a pretty glass bowl. Contact me or your local Tastefully Simple consultant to order yours today.

author sipping mug of coffee within bio collage

About the blog

deborahreinhardt

Jul 253 min read

Barbecue Potato Salad

A zippy dressing made with mayo and barbecue sauce set this potato salad apart from the pack.

sweet and gold potatoes are cubed and added to bowl with celery and green onion tossed in a tangy dressing — Barbecue Potato Salad

Some say cupcakes are just a vehicle for the frosting. I enjoy both cake and frosting, but I can see the point of these folks. However, on the savory side, I think potato salad is the cupcake of the salad world; it lives as a vehicle for a great dressing. Without that, we have a bowl of bland cooked potato cubes, maybe a little celery and onion or sweet pickle relish.

Potato salad dressings usually sport a mayonnaise or mustard base. Ho hum. Sometimes we’ll go wild with a German-style vinegar dressing. But this Barbecue Potato Salad delivers a saucy dressing that really sets this dish apart from the traditional offerings.

To make Barbecue Potato Salad, which makes four servings, you will need these ingredients:

1 large sweet potato
2 or 3 Yukon Gold potatoes
5 strips bacon
2 celery stalks
4 green onions
¾ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup barbecue sauce
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon seasoned salt
Pinch black pepper
Optional: Liquid Smoke

Directions for Barbecue Potato Salad

Preheat outdoor grill or your oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel, wash and cut potatoes into 2-inch pieces. I like the sweet potato here because it adds flavor to the dish. Add olive oil to a sheet pan, add potatoes, sprinkle seasoned salt and pepper and toss well to fully coat. Roast until fork-tender (about 30 minutes).

While potatoes are roasting, dice celery stalks, saving any leaves for garnish. Dice white and green portions of onions.

Bring a large skillet to medium-high heat and fry bacon until crisp. Remove from skillet and place on a paper towel.

To make the dressing, add to a small bowl the mayo, barbecue sauce, vinegar and (if desired) two drops of Liquid Smoke. Whisk together until fully combined. Set aside.

Allow potatoes to cool to room temperature before adding dressing, celery, and onions. Fold all ingredients together and garnish with crumbled bacon and celery leaves. If you don’t have any, fresh or dried parsley also will work.

Salad storing tip

Because this dressing has mayonnaise as an ingredient, be sure to keep it chilled if you’re enjoying an outdoor meal. Don’t leave it out for more than an hour.

Store any leftovers in an air-tight container for up to three days. It’s not advisable to freeze potato salad, so just toss any portion you haven’t eaten in that span of time.

Tasteful tip

I think seasoned salt is one of those pantry staples that can be used to boost flavor of anything savory. I use Tastefully Simple's seasoned salt, but you also can make your own using kosher salt, pepper, paprika, garlic and onion powder. The smoky bacon barbecue sauce, also from Tastefully Simple, underscores the bacon in this dish, but you can use your favorite bottled sauce, too.