By December and I am finishing the associate degree. Finals done, grades pending, but I know. Two years of evening and weekend classes while working full-time and caring for eight toddlers and going to Sunday dinners and keeping an apartment and feeding a cat and writing a blog. I know what those two years cost and I know what they produced. I am carrying something real now that cannot be taken from me.
Christmas at Gloria and James was four days again. James was stronger than last December, his heart medication working, his energy better, though he still moved at a considered pace. He made the brine for the turkey himself this year, which he has done every Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I saw him do it standing at the counter for twenty minutes without stopping to rest. I held that quietly.
Gloria gave me a cast iron skillet this year, a small one, six inches, her mother before her, with a note in her handwriting that said: for the new kitchen. She knows I am moving to Birmingham for UAB in January. She is giving me things to carry into the new chapter.
I made everything this Christmas: turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, rolls that rose perfectly, pecan pie from the yard pecans. The whole table. James said: you made all of this. I said yes. He said: Gloria taught you everything. She said: she taught herself everything. I just showed her where to start. That is the truest thing she has ever said about me and I will carry it as long as I cook.
I made the pecan pie from scratch this year—yard pecans, James’s kitchen, the whole thing—but I want to leave you with something easier to carry into your own holiday table, the kind of recipe that asks almost nothing of you and still earns its place at the end of a long, full meal. Minister’s Delight is exactly that: a slow-cooker dessert so simple it almost feels like cheating, until you taste it and remember that sometimes the most generous thing a recipe can do is get out of your way. If you’re new to the kitchen, or just worn out from making everything else, start here.
Minister’s Delight
Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 2 hrs 30 min | Total Time: 2 hrs 35 min | Servings: 10
Ingredients
- 1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling
- 1 can (21 oz) crushed pineapple, undrained
- 1 package (15.25 oz) yellow cake mix, dry
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving
Instructions
- Layer the fruit. Lightly grease the insert of a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Spread the cherry pie filling evenly across the bottom, then pour the undrained crushed pineapple over the top and spread into an even layer.
- Add the cake mix. Sprinkle the dry yellow cake mix evenly over the fruit layers. Do not stir.
- Top with butter and pecans. Lay the thin butter slices in a single layer across the top of the dry cake mix, covering as much surface as possible. Scatter the chopped pecans evenly over everything.
- Cook low and slow. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until the top is set and the edges are golden and bubbling. Resist lifting the lid during cooking.
- Serve warm. Spoon into bowls and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. Best served the day it’s made, straight from the pot.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 370 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 63g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 360mg