No Bake Chocolate Cherry Dessert

Let’s leave the oven off for this one. Enjoy the classic Oreo cookie crust with a chocolaty cream cheese layer. The middle has a sweet layer of cherry pie filling, all topped with Cool Whip. A few extra crushed Oreos and some quartered maraschino cherries decorate the top. Even a few blueberries made it on top of this No Bake Chocolate Cherry Dessert…what can I say, I was feeling patriotic.

All this chocolaty goodness next to that sweet delicious cherry pie filling should be the official definition of scrumptious. It’s cool, it’s rich, and it’s a pleasure to serve. Those layers make a beautiful presentation, and you can decorate the top to match any theme or celebration. Also, it’s made in a 13 x 9″ baking dish, so it’s easy to carry if you need to travel with it, plus it feeds a small crowd. 

Get away from that oven.

There’s nothing to bake in this dessert, so give your oven the day off. 

Using a food processor, turn those Oreo cookies into crumbs and mix with the melted butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 13 x 9″ baking dish to make sure it’s packed in there tightly. Let the crust set up in the fridge while you work on the next step.

The chocolate cream cheese layer.

Make sure your cream cheese is room temperature so it mixes well with the other ingredients. Using an electric mixer, add the sugar to the cream cheese until it’s well blended. 

Next, add in the finely ground chocolate bar. You don’t have to, of course, but I love adding more chocolate to this dessert to make that chocolate layer extra rich, and I use a fine grater to keep the texture smooth and creamy. 

Then add in your milk and pudding, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go. Spread this chocolaty goodness over your crust and let it set up in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. It makes spreading on the pie filling all the easier.

Cherry pie filling time.

Spoon the cherry pie filling evenly and gently onto the chocolate layer. By placing little dollops of the pie filling everywhere, you avoid having to spread it.

In other words, plopping the can in the center and trying to spread it around may not work so well; the cherries will squish into the chocolate layer and the layers will muddle. It’ll still taste great, though!

Your last layer is the Cool Whip. This should also be placed in dollops evenly over the pie filling, then spread as gently as possible.

The reason is that the pie filling will start to “climb” up the Cool Whip and your (what would be) white layer is now red and white and pink. But it’ll taste good!

If this starts happening, try barely pressing down  with a frosting spreader and spread it just a little in one direction, then let up. Work your way from one end to the other.

Decorate with more cookies or customize to your party theme.

I like to buy the Family Size (1 lb., 3.1 oz.) bag of Oreos, because the crust requires 36, and that’s exactly how many come in the smaller 14.3 oz. bag. I usually want more for decorating and snacking, so the Family Size works better for me. 

As shown in my pictures, I decorated the top with 6 roughly chopped cookies, then I quartered some maraschino cherries. At the last minute I realized I had the Red, the White, but no Blue. Lucky for me I had some fresh blueberries turning this No Bake Chocolate Cherry Dessert into quite the patriotic show-stopper. 

Let your dessert set up for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator. When I plan well and have the time, I like to make it the day before so it has all night to do it’s magic. 

The inspiration behind this No Bake Chocolate Cherry Dessert recipe

This dish was inspired by the popularity of my No Bake Lemon Blueberry Dessert. It would seem I’m not the only one who’s reluctant to turn my oven on in the middle of summer. 

If it’s Oreos you love, check out this Lemon Oreo Cheesecake and this Pistachio Cookie Cake made with pistachio Oreos. I’ve also got some great trifle recipes with Oreos: try this Chocolate Raspberry Trifle and this Harvest Dirt Trifle. 

Have a blessed day, my friend, thanks for stopping by.

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