Easy No Bake Cherry Delight

Whip up a super easy no bake cherry delight with Dream Whip, cream cheese, and a pecan crust. The best old fashioned recipe straight from Mom’s kitchen.

When I was growing up, and even still to this day, my mom made what she liked to call cherry crunch. It was pretty much a cherry delight with a pecan pie crust, a creamy Dream Whip cream cheese filling, and cherry pie filling on top.

This cherry delight recipe has always been one of my dad’s favorite desserts ever. Mom makes it for birthdays, Father’s Day, holidays, you get the picture.

Growing up enjoying this no bake cherry dessert, I looked forward to it every time I walked in the kitchen and saw Mom putting it all together.

Of course, I’ve switched it up a bit over the years too and made blueberry yum yum, strawberry delight, no bake strawberry lush, an easy chocolate delight and even a no bake pumpkin dessert during the fall season. It’s so, so good.

And it’s not all that difficult to make either. In fact, it’s super easy to make, especially if you make your crust ahead of time.

WHERE CAN I FIND THE ACTUAL RECIPE CARD?

If you’d rather skip all of my cooking tips, important cooking info for this recipe, and similar recipe ideas – and get straight to the cherry yum yum recipe – just scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a printable recipe card.

FIRST LET’S TALK ABOUT THE CRUST

The crust is really the foundation of this yum yum dessert. And it’s the only part of this dessert that requires any bake time at all.

I usually make the crust the night before so it’s already baked and cooled, and I can just throw the rest of the recipe together really quickly.

My favorite crust for this cherry cream cheese dessert is this pecan nut crust, and it requires only 4 simple steps…

1. Melting the butter.
2. Mixing the butter with the flour and pecans.
3. Pressing the dough into a 13″x9″ baking dish.
4. Then just bake and cool.

You can even bake it, cool it, and throw it in the freezer (covered, of course).

ALTERNATIVE PIE CRUST OPTIONS

Now you can get creative with the crust, as well. For instance…

• Graham cracker crust
• Pecan Sandies crust – Make it like you would a graham cracker crust. One of my readers suggested this, and I thought it was brilliant.
• Press-in pie crust without nuts
• Vanilla Wafer crust
• Line a graham cracker crust with sliced bananas – Another brilliant reader suggestion.
• Press crushed pretzels into the pie crust instead of pecans.

Speaking of bananas, this banana pudding recipe is another one of our favorite no bake desserts.

CAN I USE HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM?

This is a recipe for cherry delight with Dream Whip. I’ve tried making the cream cheese filling with homemade whipped cream, and for some reason, it just doesn’t work as well.

So I usually reserve my whipped topping for the top (if I even add it to the top) and use Dream Whip for the filling, which is what my mom uses in her cherry delight dessert.

Now some people do make this filling with Cool Whip, but I’ve carried on my mom’s tradition of cherry yum yum with Dream Whip, which I like to call angel fluff.

HOW TO MAKE CHERRY DELIGHT

Important tip: Before you ever start mixing, beat the cream cheese in a separate mixing bowl. This will help it soften up more, and it will blend in better with the Dream Whip, once you’re ready for that step.

1. In a separate mixer bowl with an electric mixer, whisk together the Dream Whip with the milk and vanilla, according to package directions.
2. Whisk the whipped cream mixture until it begins to form soft peaks, about 4 minutes.
3. Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar into the Dream Whip mixture.
4. Whisk the cream cheese mixture for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it’s velvety smooth and creamy.

LAYER YOUR NO BAKE CHERRY DESSERT

1. Add the layer of Dream Whip mixture right on top of the crust.
2. Then add the cherry pie filling on top.

COUPLE TIPS…

• You can split the Dream Whip filling in half to make 2 smaller pies (also, the cherry pie filling and the crust).
• You can save back just a little bit of Dream Whip to use as whipped topping when you go to serve it.

This recipe is so easy. If you’re not quite ready to serve it, just cover it and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight, and it’ll be ready when you are.

CAN YOU FREEZE CHERRY DELIGHT?

You can definitely make this recipe ahead of time, freeze it, and thaw it when you need it.

Now one tip… I would definitely freeze it before adding the pie filling. Especially if you’re using canned pie filling, it’d be super easy to just add that later on after you’ve thawed the crust and creamy filling.

Just be sure, if you do freeze this dessert, to cover it well with freezer wrap or put it in a sealed container so it doesn’t get freezer burn.

MORE CHERRY DESSERTS FOR YOUR TABLE

• Gluten-Free Cherry Dump Cake

SHOP KITCHEN TOOLS FOR THIS RECIPE:

13″x9″ Baking Dish – You’ll need this size baking dish for this recipe. I find myself using this size for so many recipes, not just desserts.

Mixer – You’ll need an electric mixer, preferably with a whisk attachment, to mix together the ingredients for the creamy filling.

Spatula – Where would I be without my spatulas? I have a whole slew of them because we’re ALWAYS using them.

GET THE PRINTABLE CHERRY DELIGHT RECIPE

If you love this cherry delight with pecan crust as much as we do, please write a 5 star review, and help me share the recipe on Facebook and Pinterest!

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