Childhood is a magic time, but there are high points. Birthdays of course, best if it’s yours, but any ones birthday is good for a party. The fourth of July, especially is Texas, is breathtaking. The last few months of the year things ramp up.I loved Halloween and Trick-or-Treating. Dressing up in costumes and collecting candy! Can it get any better than that?
YES!
Next came Thanksgiving. The gathering of the family, and the feast that followed seemed to get better every year. We would start the day gathered around the TV to watch the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade. The meal was a late lunch. As much as I loved the Thanksgiving meal, I always saved room for desert. Thanksgiving and Christmas were the only two time of the year my Mom and Grandmother would make Cherry Cream Pie.
This was not your standard Cherry Cream Pie. The Cherries are suspended in a sweet cream filling. It isn’t cooked; the cream solution is set up in a chemical reaction. It was one of Mom’s favorites when she was a little girl. If memory serves me correctly Ma Moo got the instructions off a can of Eagle Brand Condensed Milk in the 1930’s. Sadly, neither of them are available to call and ask anymore.
I’m not a Pie guy, but I learned how to make this one for myself while I was in Junior High. Like Mom and Ma Moo (my Grandmother’s nick name) I make it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Why? If I made it any more often I would weigh 1,000 pounds. When folks would ask me about it I would refer them to the Eagle Brand people. I can’t always recall everything off the top of my head. Recently I got a call asking me, “Did your pie have cream cheese in it?”
A quick check of the web site confirmed they had “improved” my favorite childhood desert. I hate to suggest people that make such wonderful products are stupid, but what were they thinking?
To serve Humanity and preserve Cherry Cream Pie I am listing the original instructions. You will need;
1 can of Eagle Brand Condensed Milk
1 can of water packed Tart Pitted Cherries
¼ cup of Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon of Vanilla
1/8 teaspoon of Almond Extract
Combine the Eagle Brand Condensed Milk, Lemon Juice, Vanilla and Almond Extract in a mixing bowl. Drain the cherries and add them to the contents of the mixing bowl, then pour the mixture into a chilled pie shell. I still lick the bowl.
To be fair, I also make changes. First, I serve the Cherry Cream as a pudding. After a couple of hours pie shells get soggy, and I hate that. Second, I always make a double batch. A single batch isn’t enough to go around our family gatherings.
It definately was good & rich. I refrained from making myself sick(eating like a piggy)
ReplyDeleteMrs. Hang
I know what you mean Mrs. Hang, I 'had' to deal with left-overs from two of them in a week. That was after having large servings at the parties I took them to. Man's gota do what a man's gota do.
ReplyDeleteNot only do you lick the bowl, you lick the spoons too! Do you offer even a spoon to the Wife-person?
ReplyDeleteI had some at Thanksgiving and more at the Writers' Group party. One more round for Christmas Eve dinner; good thing or I'd be weighing 1000 pounds too!
Off Topic, but I just saw you referenced Pat McManus in your Humor list items. There's a guy named Tim Behrens who does one-man shows with Pat's material. Amazingly funny. See here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mcmanusplays.com/
Thanks Sam,
ReplyDeleteI have seen links to Tim Behrens on Pat's website. I will have to update my video program to play his clips.
As a story teller I have used some of Pat's material, always with credit given to the great man himself, and always in noncomerical venues of course.