Thursday, February 10, 2011

Blushing Cherry Salad



Holidays like Valentine’s Day often become the catalyst behind turning a dessert into a SALAD.  Salads of my childhood were either green, or consisted of some type of Jello.  For this holiday of sweetness & love - a ‘dessert salad’ is entirely appropriate - and this one is good enough to skip dessert entirely.

There are so many versions of this type of salad out there - too many to count.  I wanted one that didn’t require a mini-can or a partial container of the main ingredients.  That recipe doesn’t exist.  So I adapted, and this is what resulted.

Remember (back in the day) when sweetened condensed milk was used in no-bake cheesecake recipes?  I always wondered how this barely thick, sweet milk could cause a cheesecake (and other recipes) to actually GEL?  After doing a search, I learned that the milk proteins & lactose in sweetened condensed milk have a tendency to hang onto water - which will sometimes thicken and gel other ingredients it is used with.  So... there you go.
This recipe demonstrates the same characteristics - soaking up any excess juices from the pineapple, which results in a deliciously silky salad/dessert.  The longer it is refrigerated, the more it sets up.

I thought it was the perfect recipe to use the “HeartMallows” made by Kraft this time of year.  Even though they are strawberry flavored, it mixed well with the cherry & pineapple to taste ‘berry cherry’.  The salad stores well for a long period of time, with the only change being softer marshmallows.  

This might be a great “Pink” touch to your Valentine’s Day meal.

For the recipe, go to:

1 comment:

  1. Yum and pretty! I will eat anything with sweetened condensed milk.

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