A Recipe Worth Making, I Promise

I know, I know, I promise a recipe but I just had to share this photo of the boys first. This was a shopping trip to Pet Food Warehouse in St. Pete. Eddie kept starting to lift his leg to mark so the salesperson suggested I put them in the cart. Jakey was a good boy but he had to ride in the cart due to "guilt by association".

OK, the recipe. This recipe is a dessert and it is the easiest thing you will ever make and it's delicious! Plus there is no mixing, no measuring, and limited cookware and utensils! Perfect as a project for kids. Let's get started by preheating your oven to 350 and gathering the following:

a 9" x 13" baking
1 mixing spoon
1 butter knife
a can of crushed pineapple, juice poured off (abt 20 oz)
a can of cherry pie filling (abt 15 oz)
a box of yellow cake mix (dry)
2 sticks of butter, thinly sliced (I only use 1 1/2 sticks)
1/2 - 1 cup of pecans or walnuts (optional)

Here's a photo of the dessert shortly after going into the oven so that you can get an idea of what it will look like after you have assembled it. In this photo the butter has melted so yours, when first assembled, will look just a little different.

Assembly:

I use a glass baking dish and I spray PAM in it first for easier clean up but you can use any type of pan and you don't have to lubricate the dish.

Drain the pineapple then dump it out and spread it around to cover the bottom of the dish. OK if it is not perfectly covered.

Next, spread the cherry pie filling over the pineapple. This is best done by dropping spoonfuls on top them flattening out with the back of your spoon. It may not completely cover the pineapple.

Now open the box of yellow cake mix and pour it on top of the fruit mixture making sure to cover the entire surface - this is no problem because there is plenty of cake mix in one box.

Slice up 1 cup (two sticks) of butter (I actually use only 1 1/2 sticks) and place them all over the top of the "cake" being sure to cover as much of the surface as possible.

Finally, sprinkle chopped nuts on the top (as desired) before placing in a 350 oven for about an hour, until it turns brown on top and you see some cherry bubbling through to the top. A glass dish will take a little less time than a metal one.

This is what it looks like when it is done. (I used a whole cup of pecans in this one but most recipes call for 1/2 cup if at all). Let it sit for a little bit then scoop out while still warm and enjoy. If you refrigerate the leftovers, zap a serving in the microwave for 20 seconds to heat up and soften before serving. Oh, and some of my family members like this with whipped cream or ice cream.

Variations:

omit the pineapple and substitute a chocolate cake mix

omit the pineapple and use apple pie filling & walnuts for something similar to apple crisp
I'm going to try the variation above but with a spice cake next time

use a can of peaches instead of cherry pie fillilng (juice reserved) sprinkled with peach gelatin (dry) and then pour the peach juice mixed with 1/2 cup water on top as the very last step (after the butter) - this will be more like a cobbler

use your imagination! the sky is truly the limit....i'm thinking blueberry pie mix and lemon cake. you think?