Today’s recipes are great ones for summer. Both have three things going for them: 1) easy to prepare, 2) can be made ahead of the time you need them, and 3) good taste. Both these recipes have been around for a while, and I suspect they came from the Cool Whip test kitchens.
This Eclair Cake is just the thing for the outdoor meals you’ll be serving with the warm weather’s arrival, whether at a patio party at your house or at a family gathering.
The recipes are from Earleen Kastner of West Gantt First Baptist Church in Greenville, where Danny Burnley is pastor.
Earleen, retired from Allstate Insurance, and her husband Ernest, retired from insulation work, have two children. Their son Jim has three children, and their son Ernest Jr. and his wife Susan have one son.
Earleen Kastner
Earleen has been a member of West Gantt First Baptist for 51 years. Currently, she is in the choir and has held offices in her Sunday school class and in the Young at Heart group. Now that she is retired, she enjoys crafts – making quilts as well as crocheted and knitted items, which she shares as gifts.
The Eclair Cake recipe, which she has used for several years, came from her sister-in-law in California. The cake should be refrigerated, but will be all right at room temperature for a while if you are transporting it.
Try the Cherry Congealed Salad also. It makes a pretty dish, almost a dessert.
If you want an easy-to-prepare and good-to-eat dessert this weekend, make this on Saturday and you, your family, and guests will all say how good it is at … Sunday Dinner.
Eclair Cake
2 small boxes French vanilla instant pudding mix
3½ cups milk
9 ounces thawed dessert topping
Graham crackers, as many as needed
3 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1½ cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
ln a 9×13 pan place a layer of graham crackers close together. Mix the instant pudding and milk, until thick, then fold in the thawed dessert topping.
Spread half of this on the crackers, top with another layer of crackers and then the remaining pudding mix. Top with a final layer of crackers. Cool in fridge about 2 hours.
To make the glaze, heat the butter, milk and vanilla; then add the powdered sugar and cocoa. Heat until it boils, stirring until thickened. Pour on top of the “cake” and refrigerate until firm.
Cherry Congealed Salad
1 large can crushed pineapple, drained well
1 small box cherry gelatin
1 8-ounce carton cottage cheese
1 12-ounce carton whipped dessert topping
Mix together the pineapple and cherry gelatin powder. Add cottage cheese. Mix. Fold in whipped dessert topping. Pour into a pretty glass dish and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.