Black Cherry Jello Salad with Cream Cheese and Pecans
Black Cherry Jello Salad with Cream Cheese and Pecans is an elegant side dish or dessert with a deep fruity flavour that is so refreshing.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 447kcal
Ingredients
- 1 package black cherry jello or wild cherry or plain cherry
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 15 oz can Bing cherries using all the juice and half of the cherries
- 2 oz cream cheese
- ¼ cup raw pecans roughly chopped
Instructions
- Drain the can of cherries, reserving the juice into a measuring cup. Add cold water to the juice to make a total of 1 ¼ cups liquid and place in the fridge to chill.
- Dissolve Jello in 1 cup of boiling water in an attractive serving bowl. Stir until totally dissolved and there are no visual Jello granules remaining.
- Stir the cold cherry juice/water combination into the warm Jello thoroughly.
- Refrigerate until partially set. In the meantime, check if the cherries are pitted. Cut the cherries in half if you prefer smaller bites of cherry. (I use half of the cherries but all of the juice in the can). Cut the cream cheese into small cubes.
- Roughly chop the pecans and measure out ¼ cup. Add cherries, cream cheese and roughly chopped pecans to partially set Jello. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Notes
- Add the cherries, cream cheese, and pecans after the Jello has begun to set in the fridge. You want to add these in before it becomes solid. I typically wait only 20 minutes.
- I cut the cubes of cream cheese quite small. They're about ¼ inch by ¼ inch.
- My Aunt Helen's original recipe called for all the cherries in the can, 3 oz of cream cheese and ½ cup of roughly chopped pecans. I preferred to adjust the ratios to have a little more Jello relative to the add ins.
- My children and I enjoy eating the left over cherries.
- Or you could use the whole can of cherries to double the recipe for a larger crowd. You could make one large bowl or two smaller bowls for either end of the table.
Nutrition
Calories: 447kcal