"This looks like what you would get at a fancy restaurant, like Denny's or something"

You have friends coming over for coffee and dessert and conversation after dining out. For the fifth time. And now you are beginning to wonder if you should serve something other than chocolate pudding. You were inventive. The second time you added a little bloop of peanut butter right in the center of the pudding expecting comments of delight...and was a little disappointed when no one said anything. But you kept experimenting. The third time you plopped in a dollop of whipped cream. Silence from your guests. Even when you put a cherry on top of the whipped cream the fourth time...no comment.

You are now beginning to think that you should try something new. Something to awe and stun your guests into expressing appreciation for all of your hard work. You could go down and buy a cheese cake, and put some whipped cream with a cherry on it -- but you are beginning to suspect you are in a whipped cream and cherry rut.

Okay -- go to the store and buy:

One can of Cherry Pie Filling
A bag of frozen Blackberries...or Blueberries...whatever strikes your fancy.
One of those cartons of Fresh Strawberries
A box of Graham Crackers
A box of Powdered Sugar

And that's it.

Huh?

Okay, you can get some stupid whipped cream if you insist.

Now you have to get this stuff ready for intermixalation.

Cut off the stems on the strawberries, wash them, and plop them into large bowl.

Take the frozen Blackberries (or Blueberries) and zap them in the microwave for a few seconds to defrost 'em. Throw them into the bowl with the strawberries.

See how easy this is?

Open the can of Cherry Pie Filling and and add that to the bowl.

And stir.

You can taste it if you want. It will taste tart which means that you will scrunch up your face as you swallow it. So throw some plain old sugar into the mixture. Throw in a little sugar at a time until the taste is not too sweet but the tartness is gone. I figure a maximum of half a cup.

Now comes presentation time. Presentation is what sells your dessert and you have to use your imagination a little.

We have some blue glass goblets and some blue glass plates. What I do is place a goblet in the middle of the plate. Then break off pieces of Graham Crackers and line the inside of the goblet. Then I carefully spoon in the berry mixture into the center of the Graham Crackers in the goblet. Yeah, yeah, you can put a small dollop of whipped cream on top if that is your thing. But then I take the Powdered Sugar and sprinkle on top of the dessert and onto the plate too. Sometimes I even sprinkle little chocolate chips onto the dessert and the plate -- but this is because I can't leave well enough alone.

No -- you don't have to have blue goblets and plates. But it is neat if you can use a colored glass or bowl on a colored plate. That way the Powdered Sugar shows up really neat.

Now just watch what happens when you carry your creation out one by one and hand them to your guests. Listen to the comments"

"Oh, it's not chocolate pudding."

"Wow...this looks like what you would get at a fancy restaurant, like Denny's or something."

"Mmmmm...this is good. I didn't know that you could get berries out of a box."


"Do you have any more?"


The recipe is stupidly simple, and wonderfully tasty.