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Black Forest Dessert - Oma's Schwarzwälder Kirsch Dessert

This Black Forest dessert recipe, aka Schwarzwälder Kirsch Dessert, is such a good recipe! It's super quick and requires little effort to make because it calls for prepackaged ingredients, but it tastes so amazingly good that you'll even want to serve it for special occasions.

See hints below about using an extra package of pudding for extra chocolaty flavor!

Servings:

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 package soda crackers (unsalted tops)
• 1 4-ounce package regular instant chocolate pudding mix 
• 2 cups milk (to make pudding according to package instructions)
• 1 12-ounce tub Cool Whip (4 cups)
• 1 can of cherry pie filling

Instructions:

1. Line bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish with half the soda crackers.
2. Prepare pudding mix according to package directions. Gently spread half of the pudding over the crackers.
3. Gently spread half the tub of Cool Whip over pudding.
4. Cover Cool Whip layer with a layer of remaining soda crackers.
5. Gently spread remaining pudding over crackers. Cover with remaining Cool Whip.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
7. Serve, topping each piece with some cherry filling.

Notes/Hints:

• If you use sugar-free Jell-o instant pudding mix, your package will weigh less. Use package instructions to make your pudding with as much milk as the package says. If it's 3 cups, then your pudding layer will be nice and thick. See the section, Can you use sugar-free instant pudding?, in the post above for more info.
• To get thicker chocolate layers as shown, I used 2 packages of regular Jell-o instant pudding mix (not sugar-free) with 4 cups of milk as per package instructions.
• I prefer to use whole milk (3.5%) to get a rich tasting pudding. You can use 2% if you prefer. 
• Use low-fat Cool Whip, low-fat pudding and low-fat milk, if you need a low-fat version.
• Yes, you can use homemade whipped cream frosting instead of Cool Whip. Whip up 2 cups of heavy cream with 2 packages of Dr. Oetker's Whip It (to stabilize it), adding sugar to taste.
• Add this recipe to your list of quick Christmas recipes. Since you quickly make it ahead of time, preferably the day before, there's no hassle the day of the party.
• Add a little bit of almond extract to the chocolate pudding for some added deliciousness to the pudding mixture.
• Drizzle with some chocolate sauce or sprinkle chocolate shavings or chocolate chips for added pizzazz!
• Try the original version of this with vanilla pudding and pineapple. A summer-time (or anytime) treat.

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01.19.2023 revision update