Arlene loved to celebrate holidays, and not just the big ones like Christmas and Easter. Labor Day, Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, the 4th of July… she knew that party of any celebration had to be FOOD!
For Presidents’ Day, Arlene loved to make dishes with cherries! Many of us heard the story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree in school, where a six year-old Washington cut down his father’s prized cherry tree with a hatchet and then had the honesty to confess to the misdeed, saying “I cannot tell a lie.”
But as it turns out, the story itself was likely made up, and was possibly invented by a biographer of George Washington to demonstrate Washington’s upstanding character and serve as a lesson to young children about the value of telling the truth.
Whether it’s true or not, cherries will be forever linked to the image of our presidents. So what better way to celebrate than by watching this classic episode from 1994 where Arlene makes cherry meringue delight, crazy cherry crust pie, and cherry wink cookies?
As we enjoy these desserts, remember that today serves as a holiday for us to remember our country’s leaders: to thank God for the ones we’ve had, to pray for the ones in charge today, and to pray for wise leadership in the future.
Cherry Meringue Delight
Pillowy meringue, cool whipped cream, and tasty cherries make this a wonderful dessert!
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/3 cups soda crackers, broken
- 3/4 cup walnuts
- 1 container whipped topping (8 oz)
- 1 can cherry pie filling (21 oz)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 2 quart oblong baking dish.
- In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until egg whites hold stiff peaks. Beat in sugar and vanilla and blend well. Fold in crackers and nuts.
- Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake in preheated oven about 25 minutes. Let cool.
- When cool, spread with Cool Whip and then cherry pie filling. Chill thoroughly before serving. Makes 6 servings. Enjoy!
Crazy Crust Cherry Pie
Making a pie crust can take a lot of work. This recipe makes its own crust!
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup water
- 2/3 cup shortening
- 1 can cherry pie filling (21 ounces)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 or 10-inch, deep-dish pie plate.
- In a bowl, combine all ingredients except pie filling; using an electric mixer, beat for 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Carefully spoon cherry pie filling into center of batter. DO NOT STIR.
- Bake in preheated oven for 35 or 40 minutes. Let cool on rack. Makes 6 to 8 servings. It is delicious on its own or topped with ice cream! Enjoy!
Arlene’s Cherry Wink Cookies
These pretty cookies have little red cherry pieces on top.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 jar maraschino cherries (10 oz)
Frosting
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup butter (softened)
- milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
- In a bowl, using a mixer, combine butter, sugar, vanilla, salt and flour. Mix well. Dough will be crumbly, but moist.
- Place a heaping teaspoonful of dough in palm of your hand. Flatten a little, than place cherry half in center of dough. Form dough around cherry and roll dough into a ball.
- Place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Do not let cookies brown. They should be light in color. Cool slightly on wire cooling rack. While baking, blend confectioners' sugar and butter in a bowl, with a mixer, on low speed. Gradually add milk, a teaspoon at a time, until a frosting that spreads easily forms. Add vanilla and beat until creamy.
- While cookies are still very warm, frost tops of cookies and place a piece of cherry on top of frosting Makes 4 dozen cookies. Enjoy!
Transcript
- Well, hello and welcome to “At Home” today. And I hope you’re having a great, great day. We’re gonna be celebrating our presidents today, because all of the things that we’ll be preparing will have cherries in them. You know, this little jar of cherries, I mean, besides tasting good, and on a sundae, you can’t beat a maraschino cherry on top of a sundae, I mean, you just can’t beat that, but besides tasting good, and eating them for enjoyment, do you know that there is great medicinal value in a cherry? Did you know that? Sometimes when you’re on a lowfat or a high fat diet, you’ll get a condition, kind of like a gout condition in your joints, either in your toes or in your fingers. And I experienced this last summer when I was real strict on my low fat diet, and almost no fat sometimes. And I was reading in a book where it said, if you eat eight to 10 maraschino, those big Queen Anne, and the sweet, the sour, cherry juice, any form of cherries, if you take some portion every day, that in 10 days, you’ll see a difference. Mostly in 10 days, sometimes it takes a little longer. And you know, I did that, and do you know that that is absolutely correct. It worked for me. So the cherry is not just good tasting, but there’s good value for medicinal purpose. Besides, this medicine tastes better than most medicines that we take. I want to talk to you today about the presidents that we’re gonna be celebrating. We always celebrate their birthdays in February. General, sorry, George Washington, who was the father of our country, and Abraham Lincoln. Two men who were great role models. Now I know that, it’s like almost everything else that you have confidence in, somebody is always looking for dirt in their lives to dig up about them, and oh, they weren’t as wholesome and wonderful. Well, you know, none of us are perfect, and they weren’t perfect men, but they stood for what they believed. They did have integrity. They were men, I believe, who had hearts after God, and they wanted a place where they could come and worship God. Do you know that that’s why school was developed, so that our children could learn to read the Bible? Do you know that that’s why they sent them to school, for that very purpose? So they could learn to read, to read the Bible. What kind of role models do our children have now? I’m wondering, in the home, what kind of role models do the kids have? Are there any role models in politics, even in your personal family that we could say to our children, look, here’s a guy whose wholesome, or here’s a person that you’d want to pattern your life after? There’s disappointments and there are problems in everybody’s lives, but it’s what we do about those problems. How do we react? What’s our response? What do we do to rectify or to make right things that maybe we’ve done wrong? And I’m asking you, you parents that have children, please, in your home, be role models. Be good role models. You already are a role model. It just depends on whether you work at being a good role model. Don’t have a double standard, a standard for the workplace and a standard for home. That’s one of the things I loved most about my parents, besides the fact that they loved me dearly. My dad was a pastor. He was the same in the pulpit and with the church people, he was that same man at home. The same standards, the same rules applied, the same love was there. My mother, absolutely the same. Loving and caring with people in our church, loving and caring at home. Not, well, when you’re around church people, you act one way, and when you’re around other people, you act- When you’re with people who have no standards, no morals, you kind of slip into what they are. They were the same always, and that’s what I would ask you. Try to be that role model, try to live lives that have integrity, have high standards, have high morals. And you say, yeah, but it’s hard with so much. So don’t let the kids get in front of that television set where all that violence is going on. All the things that you don’t want them to be, it’s dished up every day through television. So don’t let them sit in front of it. Be selective about what they watch. And I hope that “At Home” is a program that your children can sit in front of the set and watch, and that we can be a role model. Not because of me, but because hopefully I’m telling you that the standards that we’re trying to set forth in being, of homemakers, and creating an atmosphere for family. Let’s try to do that. Let’s strive to do that, because you know what? It pays off in the end. Your kids will grow up and be adults that you can be proud of. So today we’re gonna celebrate our presidents. And we’re gonna get started, because cherries are in the main meal, the main dish, and mainly cherries today in celebration of Mr. Washington and Mr. Lincoln. And we’ll get started in just a minute. We’ll be right back. Here’s today’s “At Home” hint. Here’s today’s “At Home” hint. Fill drained canned pear halves with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle chocolate syrup over ice cream, and top with pecan halves and cherries. Mm-mm. If you’ve got a helpful hint that you’d like to share, we want to hear from you. Send your hint to “At Home” Hints, CTV, Wall, Pennsylvania, 15148-1499. Well, I’ve already got the mixer going, and in the bowl, we’ve got four egg whites. This first dish is called cherry delight. It’s kind of like a meringue. It’s got walnuts in it, it’s got soda crackers of all things, but I have four egg whites in my bowl. Now, the thing you have to remember when you do egg whites, you cannot have any butter, grease, oil, anything on your beaters or on the bowl, or the egg whites will not whip up. They won’t get stiff. When they get frothy like this, we’re gonna add some cream of tartar. There we go. And we’re gonna keep beating this until it gets stiff. We’re gonna add some sugar to it, because the sugar is gonna flavor it. It’s really a meringue. It’s a delicious, something different, it’s kind of a light dessert. If you don’t want a heavy cake or pie or whatever, this would be an alternative, because it is a meringue, but we’re gonna bake it, and we’re gonna put some cherries on top. The cherries don’t bake in it, it’s something you put on top after it has been baked. But when it gets like this, we’re gonna start to add our sugar. This is about a cup and a third of sugar. You don’t add it all at once, you add it a little at a time. And you let it beat. I’m gonna turn it up so we can get this really going, ’cause this has to beat still they’re stiff. And you’ll know when that is, because all of a sudden it gets real shiny, real glossy. And when you pull the beaters out, they’ll stay up in peaks, then you know that it’s stiff. See, right now you can see this is- Look, it’s very thin. Well, this is not stiffly beaten. They have to be stiff. And we’re gonna continue to add the sugar. You say, well, why don’t you add the sugar all at once? Because if you do that, it does not incorporate. What makes meringue puff up is you’re beating air into the egg whites, and then you add the sugar a little at a time, it beats, and it dissolves. If you add it all at once, what happens is it’ll be real grainy, and when you would put your finger in the egg white and you’d rub your fingers together, you could feel the grains of sugar. It had not dissolved. So you want to be sure that you dissolve it, so you add a little bit at a time. And you can see it’s getting shinier, even as we’re talking. It’s getting shinier, it’s not there yet, but it’s getting there. And what we’re gonna do then, when we add our last bit of sugar to it, we’re gonna add some vanilla. This is the white vanilla. You can use regular vanilla, that’ll be fine. That just helps with the flavor. Before you’ve even started this, you want to get a two quart glass baking dish, like this one. What you wanna do is generously butter it, because you’re gonna put this in, and this is gonna go into the oven. So we have this, it’s almost there. You can see it’s changing texture, changing consistency. Still not quite there though. Got to keep at it. And you want to make sure that your beaters go all over the bowl, so that you get, what’s in the center has to be beaten to, so you continue to go on. What you have ready also is about three fourths of a cup of walnuts. That’s what I have here. You also need a can of cherry pie filling. Okay. Now here’s your test. See, it still needs to be a little bit more. It has to stand up in stiff peaks, ’cause if it doesn’t, it’ll go flat, and then it won’t work when you put it in the oven. And you’re gonna take some soda crackers, and the soda crackers, don’t mash them like crumbs, they need to be broken apart. It’s a little bit better than a half of one of these sleeves, I call them, or packages, of plain old, regular saltine crackers. And you’re gonna want to be sure to break them, because we’re gonna fold them into the egg whites. You say, where’s the flour? There’s no flour. There’s no butter. And I’ll tell you the truth, except for the walnuts, this could be a no fat, almost no fat dessert. I think you’d have to double up on the crackers if you didn’t put the walnuts in, though. Okay, let’s see, I think we’re almost there. A-ha. See how this is now? Probably could go a little bit more, because the stiffer, the better. This is what takes time to do, but you don’t wanna rush it because if you do, you’ll have a product that is not up to standards, and then you’ll say, what didn’t work? Well, it didn’t work because you were rushing it. I know we get into these, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, but sometimes you just can’t rush it. It’s like when you’re trying to raise bread dough, and it just doesn’t work because you’re rushing, rushing. Mm-mm, it’s not gonna work. Trust me, it will not work. Okay, now we’re gonna take these walnuts. We’re gonna add that to it. And I told you, we’re gonna break up some crackers, about a half a sleeve, and really just do them a little bit at a time. Just break them. You don’t want them to be crumbs, now, remember that. You want them in chunks. You say, I never had crackers like this, that’s a little unusual. Yeah, it is, but I’ll tell you, the finished product is something you’re gonna enjoy. And you know, as I was telling you in the beginning of the program, the role models that we have, and our presidents, I can remember going to school thinking, those guys had been the most wonderful men in the world. Thinking, boy, Abraham Lincoln, what he did for our country, what a wonderful president he was. He gave his life for the country. And these were men that I really looked up to, and it’s hard to find personalities that you really want to say to your children, boy, you need to grow up and be like so-and-so, because nowadays there’s just not that many around, unfortunately. Hopefully our pastors are men that our children can look up to and say, here, here’s a man who is fair with everyone, and has great integrity, and loves people, and loves God mostly. To me, that would be the first thing that’s most important, that they would love God. And role models, you know, what you see on television, or what you see on some of the stations, when I flip by, I think, oh my goodness, this is what our kids are seeing. This is not good, because they are not good role models. But I know that, of course we have an example of a good role model in the Bible, you’re not gonna find one better than that, but I know that our children need to pattern their lives, and they will. And parents are role models for them, whether you wanna be or not, because you’re there every day. You’re watching them, you’re with them, you’re feeding them, and your response to the things that they do, or they’re watching your response to the neighbor that comes over and chews you out, because maybe you put your snow over on their property, and that you mean to do it, but you didn’t know where to put it, or whatever. That’s the kind of stuff that shapes our children, when they see how people respond, how you respond. Okay, we’re gonna put this in a preheated oven, 350 degrees. It’s gonna bake for about 25 minutes. Okay. Now, when you take it out, it has to completely cool. And here’s what you’re gonna have when it’s completely cool. It’s a meringue, okay. It’s a basic meringue. And when it’s cool like that, then you’re gonna put some Cool Whip over the top. Just like this. Over the top of the meringue. You’ll keep this refrigerated until you’re ready to serve it, ’cause anything that has Cool Whip on, you need to do that. Just cover it completely. Okay. And when it’s done, then is when we’re gonna spoon the cherries over top of the Cool Whip. Nice. Don’t try to do that unless it’s cool though, because if you do, your Cool Whip is gonna melt, and you’ll have a mess. Just spoon the cherries all over the top. Look at that. Wonderful, huh? We’re just doing this in celebration of our presidents, because they were men that really gave a lot for our country. They really helped to form those early days of our country. They did a lot. Okay, there’s our cherry delight, it’s called. That’s the first one. And like I said, you want to keep that in the refrigerator. Now what we’re gonna do is our cherry cookies, and this is a very easy dough, and I’m gonna get it started while you take a break. We’ll be right back in just a minute. All right, for our cherry cookies, we’ve put a cup of butter, room temperature, half a cup of sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla, pinch of salt, and two and a quarter cups of flour, and we’re gonna make a dough with this. And I’m gonna let that dough- It has to beat a little while. While that’s going, I’m gonna show you a really quick and easy cherry- It’s called crazy crushed cherry pie. Honest, I’m almost embarrassed, it’s so easy. But you have a deep dish, a nine or 10 inch pie plate, and you want to grease it real good. In here, I’m gonna put a cup of flour, and really just put everything in. Here’s two tablespoons of sugar, a teaspoon of baking powder, half a teaspoon of salt, one egg, okay. Two thirds cup of vegetable oil, and three fourths of a cup of water. And we’re gonna beat that, and this will make a batter. And all you do with this batter is place it into your pie plate. And if you say I like pies, but man, I’m not a good pie baker, I can’t make them, I’m gonna tell you something, this pie is incredible because it doesn’t have to be cherry. You could use, if you don’t want to use the cherry pie filling you could use apple, blueberry, peach, any of those flavors, and you just mix it up real well, just like this. Okay. And you’ve gotta beat for about two minutes, ’cause that’s gonna incorporate all of the ingredients really, really well. For time purposes, I’d probably let this go for about another minute, but because we’re running short on time, I’m gonna go ahead and place this into the well-greased pie plate. You see how nice this batter is, very nice, and creamy, I guess would be the best word I could describe to you. And now you’re gonna put your cherries right in the middle, and you try not to put them all around the edge, because you want to spoon them right in the very middle of the pie, because when this bakes, then what comes up is your crust comes up around the cherries. I mean, look how easy this is. This is like, hardly any time at all. This is gonna bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Now, this is a hotter oven. This one has to go to 425. So I’m not gonna bake it for you, but at the end of the program, I’m gonna show you what this pie looks like. Tell you what, that can’t be any easier than just putting those few ingredients together, and baking it, served with some Cool Whip or a scoop of ice cream. That’s a crazy crust cherry pie, right there. Let’s back over here now and see what’s happening. Well, our dough is perfect. And you can do this by hand. If you don’t have a mixer, a bigger, heavy duty mixer, you can do it by hand, it just takes some perseverance ’cause you’re gonna have to work with your hands to get the dough to the right consistency. But what we do here, after you have your dough together, and you can see this, it’s gonna be crumbly. It’s not gonna be real smooth like a big batter or anything. It’s crumbly, and you’re gonna be able to work it. See how even the warmth of your hands is going to help you shape the little cherry cookies? You’re gonna take a piece of dough about that big, and you have a jar of maraschino cherries. You’ve taken it, you’ve drained it well, you’ve cut each cherry in half, and you’re basically gonna put a piece of cherry just like that, and you’re gonna form the dough up around the piece of cherry, ’cause this dough is very pliable in your hands. You can work it back and forth. And then you’re gonna roll it, and you’re gonna end up with, that’s the perfect size. This makes about four dozen of these cherry cookies. Let me do another one for you. Okay, this is kind of like a shortbread dough. That’s really what the dough on this cookie is. You put a piece of cherry in there. If you think you don’t have enough dough, ’cause that’s a big piece of cherry, add a little piece to it, and then just form the dough up around the cookie. Roll it around, making sure that it’s all covered. You place them on a greased baking sheet, and you’re gonna bake them in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. They’re not gonna get brown, so don’t wait for them to get brown. They’re gonna puff up, and they’re gonna look almost the same color that they are there. When they’re come out and they’re still a little bit warm, you’re gonna put them on a cooling rack. You’re gonna mix up your powdered sugar, your softened butter, some milk, and a little bit of vanilla, you’re gonna make an icing. While these are still warm, you want to icing them then, because you want the icing to kind of mold around the cookie. Then you’ll take, with the leftover cherries, cut them in a forth, and you’ll place a cherry on top of the icing, and that’s your cherry cookies. This, like I said, makes about four dozen. Sometimes you get carried away, and you think, oh man, I just want to get done with this. They get bigger and bigger, we’re not gonna have no four dozen, but if you really are careful, and you mold them in the right size, just about an inch, kind of like what we have there, then you’ll be sure to get about four dozen. These are great. This is a great wedding, if you’re having a wedding reception and you need some kind of a cookie that makes a nice, really nice impression at the table. It’s just great for if your kids really like cherries. And maybe this would be the time to get your kids around you, gather them around you, and while you’re making something like this, let the kids help you, and then tell them stories about the presidents. Have a celebration day during the month of February when you tell them about the founders of our country, and how that this country was founded on a real deep, deep faith in God, and they wanted the freedom to worship, and that’s why they came, they found the new land. This would be a great time just to reinforce what we all know. So I would ask you to think about that, and plan a day, and make your kids right in the center of the plans. We’ll be right back in just a minute. Here’s how to get today’s recipes.
- [Announcer] To receive the recipes presented on today’s program, plus many more great recipe ideas, send your best donation, and a stamped self-addressed business sized envelope to “At Home”, CTV, Wall, Pennsylvania, 15148-1499. You’ll receive Arlene’s heartwarming newsletter, “Enjoy!,” featuring an entire month of “At Home” recipes, including today’s mouthwatering dishes. Be sure to include the issue number with your request.
- Well, here’s our celebration of cherries. Let me show you what we’ve prepared today. This is cherry delight, the meringue with the Cool Whip, there’s walnuts, and crackers, really crunchy, light. It’s really, really good. We put the cherries on top. And then this is our crazy crust cherry pie. So easy. And we just took some little bits of ice cream. I mean, this crew said, let’s go for ice cream. I was gonna put a little bit of Cool Whip. The crew wanted ice cream, so we just put some ice cream balls around the edge. You can let your mind go. They even suggested, how ’bout a little chocolate drizzle. I mean this crowd, they could eat anything. And then we have our cherry cookies here that has the surprise cherry in the center, and the nice real light icing on top, and another little piece of cherry. These by the way, freeze really well. Please be sure to include the issue of “Enjoy!” that you want today, because it’s a new process. We’ve been doing this now, it’s the second month, and we really, really want to stress that it’s not just one recipe that you’re getting, you’re getting a whole month’s recipe. You only have to write one time. Next show that you’re watching, if you see the same issue that you’ve already sent for, don’t send again, just remember that those recipes will also be included. We’re trying to make it easier on you, and your best donation along with your request once per month, will make it all work out perfectly well. Basically, we’re trying to make it easier. There’s a little part in the “Enjoy!” issue that has a little column from me, we’re gonna try to include our “At Home” hints there for you. And I hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s program about cherries, and our presidents. And be sure to join us the next time, because it just wouldn’t be the same without you here “At Home.” We’ll see you then.
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Hello,
Will these recipes stay on the Internet? I hope so.. have a wonderful day.
Laura
Hi Laura, yes this website will continue to have Arlene’s recipes for a long time!
Can’t wait to try some new things