By Shannon Deady
Columnist
Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday because I love to cook. Although my family enjoys cooking on just about every holiday, Thanksgiving dinner takes the cake.
No Thanksgiving dinner is complete without mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, gravy and multiple turkeys if you are at my family’s table for 30! Every family puts their own spin on the holiday feast, and dessert is where I get to be the most creative.
My grandmother’s raspberry and cream cheese dessert is highly requested each year and there is seldom any left over by the end of the day. This year I helped her make the dish, and she gave me a little bit of history about where it came from. She got the recipe for the treat from a neighbor on the street my dad, who immigrated from Poland, grew up on.
They ate the delicious dish often with their dinners, especially as a side with chicken or turkey, and were kind enough to share the recipe with her when she tried it at their house one day. It is as simple to make as it is delicious, and it is a refreshing dessert to have among the heavy pies and chocolate sweets like cookies or brownies. We typically prepare the raspberry fruit portion of the dish the night before we want to serve the dessert to let it chill and add the whipped cream cheese topping right before serving.
Makes: 8 servings
Ingredients:
Raspberry Fruit Bottom
-2 packages raspberry Jello mix
-2 cups boiling water
-1 pint frozen raspberries
-1 cup traditional applesauce
Whipped Cream Cheese Topping
-½ pint heavy cream
-8 oz cream cheese
-1 cup mini marshmallows
Directions:
- Follow instructions on the package for Jello accordingly, adding boiling water to mix and stirring until dissolved in a large mixing bowl.
- While still hot, add in a pint of frozen raspberries and break into the mixture, stirring until evenly distributed. Once raspberries are broken up and distributed, add traditional applesauce and stir.
- Place raspberry fruit mixture into a serving dish and refrigerate overnight.
- Remove from refrigerator and prepare whipped cream cheese topping for serving.
- In a bowl, whip heavy cream, cream cheese and mini marshmallows until combined and add to the top of raspberry fruit bottom in your serving dish.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve and enjoy!
