Homemade Cherry Pie Filling

Want to make a delicious cherry pie from scratch? This easy recipe for homemade cherry pie filling will have you whipping up a delicious dessert in no time!

Love cherry pie but hate the store-bought filling? Try making your own with this simple and delicious recipe! Just a few ingredients and a little bit of time is all it takes to create the best cherry pie filling. It is glossy and gorgeous and so silky smooth!

Growing up there was always a can of cherry pie filling hanging out in our food storage. In great desperation we’d find ways to create desserts like a cherry filling stuffed burrito that we’d fry in a pan and drizzle glaze over the top. Actually, I should totally make that again, haha.

All these years later I still have fond memories of mom’s no bake cheesecake with tart cherry pie filling on top, my little cherry burritos and so on but I’ve found that homemade pie filling is really the secret to a better dessert. If you can find tart cherries vs Bing etc, you’ll end up with an even better results.

Ingredients for Cherry Pie Filling

With just a little time and these 4 ingredients, you can have a homemade cherry filling worth singing about! Here is what you will need:

• Pitted Sour Cherries: You might think a sweet cherry is what you would want for baking desserts, but the opposite is true. Tart cherries make the best cherry desserts with that signature cherry flavor. You can use fresh cherries preferably but frozen cherries will work fine too.
• Cornstarch: Used to thicken the pie filling as it heats up.
• Sugar: Balances the tartness of the cherries.
• Cinnamon: Adds a warm flavor to the filling.

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card down below so keep scrolling for the all the details.

How to Make Homemade Cherry Filling

Watch how easy it is to take those 4 ingredients and make this cherry pie filling recipe at home…

1. Pour the cherries in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until the juices release and start simmering.
2. In a small bowl, stir the rest of the ingredients together and once the cherries are simmering, add the cornstarch/sugar mixture and stir until combined.
3. Let it simmer until bubbling and thick, then remove from the heat.

See that’s totally doable! These instructions can also be found in the recipe card below where you can save or print the recipe as well.

What Type of Cherries are Best?

Sour cherries are best for baking, and the best varieties are called Morello, Montmorency, or Amarelle. Those can be hard to find. We used Rainier cherries, which are a little easier to find. Bing will work as well, but I would use them as a last resort. They are sweet cherries.

How to Remove a Cherry Pit

If you use fresh cherries, you will want to remove the pits. You can slice the cherries in half and pop the pit out, or my favorite little tool is this cherry pitter. It is so handy and just pops the pit right out

Crumbl Copycat Key Lime Pie Cookies

Imagine holding delicious key lime pie in the palm of your hand and eating it like a cookie! These key lime pie cookies satisfy your cravings for zesty citrus creamy pie filling and buttery graham cracker crust but in a cookie form!

Everyone in Utah and slowly the whole United States is becoming obsessed with Crumbl Cookies, but I’m here to take their great idea up a notch. This copycat Crumbl Key Lime Pie Cookies recipe is 100% because I have a friend who is obsessed but I thought it needed a little touch here and there.

We use straight up, homemade graham cracker crust in and outside of the cookie to really push that key lime pie flavor. PRO TIP: I like to make a homemade graham cracker crust and throw it into the freezer in a ziploc bag. It keeps forever and I can toss it into cookie dough, sprinkle it on top of desserts or even in our creamy vanilla ice cream it’s unreal! It really is the secret, along with a little more salt to add more flavor and balance to the perfect Key Lime Pie Cookie!

We are obsessed with lime desserts in our house!  Our key lime cheesecake with berry sauce is heavenly. Our classic key lime pie is so easy and always a hit. Of course, we have our torta de limão and it’s berry infused spinoff…blackberry lime bars. And if your loyal too cookies, try our white chocolate key lime cookies! You just can’t go wrong with limes when it comes to dessert!

Ingredients for Key Lime Pie Cookies

This recipe comes together in two different parts – the cookies and the filling. Besides the key limes themselves, the ingredients are mostly pantry staples. Here is what you will need:

For the Cookies

• Wet Ingredients: unsalted butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, white sugar, egg and vanilla extract
• Dry Ingredients: flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt
• Graham Cracker Crust: graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar

For the Key Lime Filling

• Cream Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Sweetened Condensed Milk
• Lime Zest, Lime Juice, and Lime Wedges
• Whipped Cream: whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract

The measurements for all of these ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post. Keep scrolling down for all the details!

Fluffy Cheesecake Fruit Salad [+ Video]

This cheesecake fruit salad is awesome for a side at a potluck or BBQ or even as a dessert! Plus it’s so easy it’s foolproof! The perfect summer salad!

Ummmmm I could eat this berry cheesecake salad recipe for the rest of my life and die happy. Seven years ago we posted this recipe and I’ve been waiting all winter for berry season to hit so we could bring this recipe back to the front for everyone to enjoy.

It’s sweet deliciousness. It seems a little wrong to take all of those healthy berries and turn them into a calorie fest with everything you put in this dish, but guess what, WORTH IT!!

Seriously, you should all make this on a perfect sunny day and eat outside with the family. Or maybe take it to a BBQ so everyone can ask you what the amazing recipe is.

Cheesecake Fruit Salad Ingredients

This fruit salad recipe is so versatile. I’m going to list out the ingredients that we love, but know from the start that you can totally swap out different fruits or flavors of yogurt. Here is what you will need:

• Instant Cheesecake Pudding: You want just the pudding powder to add that yummy cheesecake flavor.
• Cool Whip: adds sweetness and creaminess
• Strawberry Yogurt: adds more fruity flavor and creaminess to the salad
• Bananas: cut into 1/2 inch slices
• Strawberries: stem removed and sliced
• Raspberries: left whole but rinsed
• Optional: Blueberries, Blackberries, Peaches, Cherries or Grapes
• Graham Crackers: If you really want to make this salad taste like a true cheesecake, add crushed up graham cracker.

PRO TIP: After trying many different combinations of fruit in this recipe, I’ve decided my favorite concoction is fresh bananas, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, fresh raspberries and fresh blackberries. So fresh! Haha!

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to Make Cheesecake Fruit Salad

One of my favorite things about this side dish is that it couldn’t be easier! Just two quick steps and you have a delicious fruit salad.

1. In a large bowl, mix the pudding powder, whipped topping and yogurt together.
2. Add the fruit and carefully fold it into the creamy cheesecake mixture. Then let it chill in fridge until it’s ready to serve (at least 30 minutes).

These instructions can also be found in the recipe card below where you can also print or save the recipe.

Watch How This Fruit Salad is Made…

No Bake Banana Pudding Pie with Nilla Wafer Crust

Indulge in this delicious no-bake banana pudding pie with a crunchy Nilla wafer crust. It’s the perfect dessert for any occasion and requires minimal effort to make.

I know it’s kind of a long title, but I wanted you to know that’s it not a graham cracker crust (which you can totally use instead if you want). And technically it’s not no bake pie either because you do have to bake the crust. Well, no you don’t. Oh gosh, this no bake banana cream pie with Nilla wafer crust is getting confusing let’s just shoot through a few facts (I’m channeling my inner Dwight Schrute from The Office)…

1. Fact~ I’ve never seen all of The Office, but I have seen episodes and it was hilarious.
2. Fact~ This crust uses Nilla Wafers not Graham Crackers.
3. Fact~ I have called them Vanilla wafers my whole life until I made this recipe and realized that is not the name on the box.
4. Fact~ You totally do not have to bake the crust. It just won’t be as hard on the bottom but it’s still wonderful.
5. Fact~ The rest of the pie is no bake and I mean it. It just whisking and stirring and folding.
6. Fact~ I actually made, photographed and wrote this post in December, but I’m posting in spring because I couldn’t justify one more treat during the already full schedules of desserts.
7. Fact~ I love pie. And the number 7.

Ingredients for a Banana Pudding Pie

It’s surprising how few ingredients you need to make this super easy banana pudding pie recipe. Here is what you will need:

Crust

• Nilla Wafer Crumbs: I like to grind the cookies in a blender. A food processor would work great too.
• Sugar: adds a little sweetness to the crust
• Butter: binds the cookie crumbs and sugar all together to form the crust

Filling

• Banana Cream Instant Pudding: grab the 3.4 ounce box of instant pudding mix and make sure it isn’t the sugar free kind
• Milk: helps create the banana pudding
• Cream Cheese: adds richness and creaminess
• Sweetened Condensed Milk: adds sweetness and creaminess to the filling
• Cool Whip: feel free to use sweetened whipped cream if you prefer not to use Cool Whip
• Bananas: adds natural banana flavor to the pie
• Nilla Wafers: adds texture to the filling and looks pretty scattered on top

If you are looking for a traditional banana cream pie with everything made from scratch, we have that recipe for you too

Apple Empty Tomb Rolls [+ Video]

A soft, buttery, flaky roll stuffed full of chopped up apples in an incredible caramel sauce. But what’s the secret to Apple Empty Tomb Rolls?

If you’ve been following us for a while now you know that there’s a recipe that almost broke our site, do you know which one it is?

Actually, I lied.

There are a few recipes that continue to bring in millions of views, but we can chat about those later if you’d like. But Empty Tomb Rolls is the one I’m talking about right now. And it’s what inspired this version or Apple Empty Tomb Rolls which I think blows the original out of the water.

Our original recipe calls for roll dough, butter, cinnamon sugar and marshmallows.

Crazy, crazy easy.

You’ve got to go check out the recipe and watch the video. It’s a really delicious one.

All summer the idea kept coming to my mind that it would be really delicious if I could make a new version. That’s kind of hard though because there’s literally nothing to the recipe, but the idea came to my mind so many times I knew it was inspiration.

I kept pondering and pondering over what new idea could be used when I asked a question on Instagram about fall and what flavor you all prefer, apple or pumpkin.

On one post it was overwhelmingly APPLE and on another, PUMPKIN! Seriously? How does that help me know what to make?! LOL, it was awesome. And then it hit me, Apple Empty Tomb Rolls. They are even kind of like our Apple Pie Bombs, but no frying needed!

You see, Empty Tomb Rolls, or as some people call them, Resurrection Rolls (there’s a whole story that you tell your kids as you make them, it’s pretty cute) end up with a caramel-y sauce inside of the roll and it’s so good! What goes better with apples than caramel?!

The Secret to Apple Empty Tomb Rolls

Do you know the secret to apple empty tomb rolls?

Marshmallows!!!

Let’s dive in to the recipe.

What to Serve with Apple Empty Tomb Rolls

Actually, hold on a second! Do you know what would be really good? These hot, saucy apple empty tomb rolls are reminiscent of apple pie. In fact, if you made them with two crescent rolls and more filling it would totally look like mini hand pies. But listen, I’m getting too far off here, the point is, it’s like apple pie, so what would really be good is to serve them up with a cold, creamy scoop of vanilla ice cream!

How to Make Apple Empty Tomb Rolls

It’s probably one of the easiest desserts you’ll ever make and it all starts with the apples.

You will need to microwave the apples for about a minutes so that they are beginning to turn tender. The bake time isn’t longing enough to soften them up, so the microwave is going to help out with that.

Next, toss the apples with melted butter and mini marshmallows. As you know, large marshmallows are used in the o