Berry Surprise

Have you ever found an instance that you wish you could redo because your spouse always remembers it and brings it up? Yep, surprisingly this dessert is one of those things for me. Let me start at the beginning of this story.

Back when I was first married (maybe even before I was married) someone asked my husband what his favorite dessert was. I, in my naivete, was expecting him to say one of my signature dishes, apple pie, a cherry chocolate cake, you know, something like that. Nope. He tells them about some great dessert that was made many years before by a woman who was kind of like a foster mom to him. Not only did he mention it but he practically drooled while describing it. I was shocked. I was hurt. I was mortified. I was only 19 years old. Now in my much more mature years I have realized that he can have other favorites that haven't been made by me. I can tell you though that it has taken just about the 18 years of our marriage and me saying, "It's okay, you can say you like it even though it isn't mine" for him to feel like he can say he likes another person's dish. Okay, maybe it's not that extreme but sometimes it sure feels like it.

So anyway, for Father's Day this year I decided that I wanted to make his "favorite" dessert but put my spin on it. The recipe that I finally broke down and asked for a year or two ago was tweaked by me to use fresher ingredients and to shrink it down to a size manageable for three people.

The original recipe uses only blueberries in the form of canned pie filing, but I decided that I wanted to use fresh blueberries to make a homemade filling and I wanted to make a raspberry blueberry version. Graham cracker crust, cream cheese filling, a fresh fruit layer, and homemade whipping cream. Really what's not to love about it. Enjoy!   

Berry Surprise

1 3/4 cup graham crackers, crushed (about 10 crackers)
1/2 cup butter, melted
Berry Sauce (see recipe below) or 1 can of pie filling
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cool whip or whipping cream

Prepare berry sauce if using homemade. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 or 9 inch baking pan (or 4 - 10 oz custard cups for a half size).

Mix the graham crackers and butter; set aside about 3 tablespoons of the mixture to spread over the top of the dessert); pat crust down in pan. Bake for 15 minutes (or about 10 minutes if using smaller portions). Remove from oven and cool crust.

Mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and cool whip. Spread over cooled crust.

Spread the berry sauce over the cream cheese mixture. Cover with remaining cool whip and sprinkle with remaining graham mixture.

Refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving.

Berry Sauce
1 1/2 cups blueberries (or equivalent amount of berries)
3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
1/8 cup water

Heat to boiling and simmer until sauce is thickened.

* A half batch of the entire dessert is enough for 4 - 10 oz custard cups. Double the recipe for a 9x13 pan.