Cherry Yum-Yum Recipe (2024)

I love canned cherry pie filling. There, I said it.

*Using Pamela's brand, or comparable good quality, gluten free graham crackers makes this a great dessert option for family members with celiac diagnosis.*It is an error to turn up one's nose at premade cherry pie fillings. Great ones on the market in jar and can made by/for cherry growers. Look for those, not mass market brands. Good brands include Chukar Cherries (OR), Red Hills Fruit (King Arthur sells this), Cherry Republic (MI), King Orchards (MI), Blake Hill and so on.

This is perfect for an easy add to the holiday dessert table. I love it and will try it with Oreos! Actually, I’m going to have my kids make it two ways on Christmas Eve!MM-Why the horrible tude? Not everybody has a church cookbook to look through. And not every single NYT recipe has to be a level above a can opener. It’s called variation and inspiration. A recipe is a recipe. I hope 2023 is a better year for you.

This reminds me of Christmas Eve when my grandmother made her Stained Glass dessert. She’d put it in her fanciest tureen which was a glass bowl held in some contraption. Part of the silver set, of course. Essentially it was red and green jello cubes suspended in Cool Whip with a Graham crust. I’d kill to have her secrets. Joy comes from any old place and the simplest recipe made with love can go far further than the most sophisticated. I think of her and that dessert 50 years on every XMAS eve.

Oh, my, I now know exactly what I will make for dessert for our Christmas Eve dinner for 2! It's been years since I've had this. One of my favorite things about NYT Cooking is that the recipes run the gamut - from no recipe recipes, to very minimal ingredient recipes that taste like they took hours to prepare, to the truly exotic, to good old fashioned comfort food. Thanks for taking care of all our culinary needs. And thanks for the memories shared with this one.

Add a smidge of grated lemon peel and juice to improve the canned cherry pie filling.

Come on! This is already elevated by using whipped cream instead of Dream Whip from a box or frozen whipped topping. You can use organic no color added pie filling but it loses the visual appeal. This is AKA Cherry Delight if you don’t add the crumb topping. We love fine dining, but have to admit that this is still one of our family’s holiday favorites for over 50 years.

My mother used to make this as a “cheesecake” for my sister and it was her favorite thing ever. My sister is coming to my house for Christmas and I can’t wait to surprise her with this!

This no salted butter annoys me, use salted butter and cut back on how much salt to add. Just a thought.

You can easily make your own gluten-free filling, sweetened to your preference with the sweetener of your choice, by straining the liquid from two cans of tart cherries into a microwave-safe bowl (or saucepan, if you prefer). Add approximately 1.5-2 Tbsp. cornstarch and your sweetener (2-3 packets of stevia or anywhere from 1 Tbsp. - 1/2 C. sugar), and whisk together. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to remove any lumps and keep the mixture evenly heated, until clear and thick. (cont.)

My grandmother made a version of this, but she did single servings in a cupcake pan. Nilla wafers in the bottom of a cupcake liner as the crust. Then cheesecake filling with canned cherries on top. Takes me back!

You need to be careful what you buy. Good cherry pie filling still exists.

This brings back memories! A lovely Auntie made this all the time. You wouldn’t think you’d like canned cherry pie filling this much, but you will.

I use recipes as guidelines, what about mascarpone rather than Cream cheese? Yes, use a known good brand for the cherry filling. I love cherry pie filling, there I said it too.

Dear Dimmerswitch ;) You believe "kindness doesn't cost a thing" when responding to M. M. and her cheeky reference to the can opener. I open NYT cooking daily. I'm always inspired by the simplicity and complexity of the recipes. Greeted by Cherry Yum-Yum was wonderful. It reminded me of my aunt-who cooked like Julia Child-and always had cherry filling in her larder. Yum-Yum will be served on Christmas eve along with my Pavlova wreath. Best to you! Thanks for the cherry filling brands options.

Full of modifications, my Cherry Yum Yum was delicious. Cherry Republic brand cherry pie filling is far superior to the canned variety at the supermarket. It is in a jar and has a dark, fresh taste vs. the artificial red goo from the can. My attempt at this recipe began with halving it as I did not have 12-15 people coming over for dinner. When the grocery store did not sell graham cracker crumbs, I opted for a graham cracker pie shell which I crushed up. The result - yum yum.

I made this for a Valentine's Day dinner for my parents and we all swooned over it! Thank you, Vaughn Vreeland and NYT Cooking.

Just like the one use to mom make.

It is indeed Yum Yum. And Easy Yum Yum.

My 90+ ex-mother-in-law was famous (in her family and her community) for this dish. I always thought she was the creator and the person who named it. She died last year, but this beautiful and easy to make dish will live forever and is one of her cooking legacies.

I grew up with this dessert - my dad's favorite. Our family recipe calls for a couple of Tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon - no almond extract. The fresh juice brightens the dessert and cuts the richness. These days, I use 2 good jars of tart cherry preserves instead of the can of cherries with bright red dye!

I made this for Christmas and it was a huge hit-people went back for seconds and barely any other dessert was touched, which was shocking! I had the same issue as others in relation to the first layer of cream cheese filling lifting up the graham crackers, but I didn't use an offset spatula, so that may have been one of the issues. However, if you watch Vaughn's YouTube video, he'll say that this isn't meant to be perfect, and clearly none of the 12 people who devoured this dessert cared!

For those asking for a video from Vaughn related to this recipe, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D-Je6R9ndU&list=PLYG6O_GQCZwhYieKJ8p2fsQqXwZuAOjuT&index=15

We didn't love this. It just wasn't that good. I'm amenable to simple recipes and store-bought ingredients, but when we put this all together the flavor was just disappointing. The elements didn't really feel like they were complimenting each other. Don't make this unless you have access to a very high quality pie filling, or, probably even better, cook some fresh fruit with sugar on the stove to make your own. Lastly, this desert wasn't too sweet, if that's a concern.

Made this with blueberries, one small can plus mixed with a cup of frozen thawed fresh blueberries cooked with lemon juice to thicken. Which turned out to be more than enough as I halved the recipe, put in a glass loaf pan, and almost filled it! Salt doesn’t seem to bother this sweet dessert for me. I think next time the sugar and maybe the whip cream could be reduced because I’d like more of the cream cheese taste. I’ll also put 2/3rd the amount of the crumb mixture in the bottom.

Oof. Too sweet. I don't think I like the texture and goo of the cherry pie filling. I might like this with cut strawberries or other fruit. MaCall gave it a seven, the kids ate a little. Chris loved it.

We had a bumper crop of tart cherries this year. Many cherry pies. Any reason you can’t use fresh cherries?

Make more whipped cream you won’t have enough! Call me stupid but I read one can of Cherry pie filling had to stop and run to the store! It’s a bit time consuming layering everything! Just made it wish me luck it’s Fourth of July and I decorated it for the occasion!

This is one recipe where a video demo would have been invaluable… Ok, so I couldn’t get specific pie filling and had to “doctor” it with corn flour, but the assembly isn’t for amateurs! The taste outcome will certainly be as overwhelmingly caloric as imagined by the ingredients, but I’d like to watch how someone copes with the sticky ingredients and has them coming out looking as presentable as the photo! Mine will be forgiven by a grateful and surprised—and greedy—family, but SHOW me please!

Great dessert. Used fresh cherries, so extremely sweet. Only suggestion is to cut down salt and sugar by a bit.