layered cranberry salad recipe
To be honest, this easy cranberry salad recipe, with its sweet & tangy cream cheese topping, is probably more of a dessert, but we serve it as a side dish at all of our holiday dinners... SO good, a MUST TRY recipe!
layered cranberry salad recipe
yield: 16 SERVINGS 
prep time: 20 MINUTES 
additional time: 3 HOURS 
total time: 3 HOURS 20 MINUTES

ingredients
for the cranberry jello:
  • 2 (3-oz.) packages raspberry Jell-O
  • 1 1/2 cups boiling water
  • 1 (20-oz.) can crushed pineapple
  • 1 (14-oz.) can whole berry cranberry sauce
  • 3/4 cup cranberry juice
  • 1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, chopped
for the cream cheese topping:
  • 1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
instructions
  1. Dissolve the raspberry Jell-O in the boiling water.
  2. Add the crushed pineapple (juice and all), whole berry cranberry sauce, cranberry juice, and your choice of nuts to the Jell-O mixture. Reserve a small amount of the nuts to sprinkle on top. Mix well.
  3. Pour into a 9x13" glass baking dish and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
  4. Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream with a hand mixer until smooth.
  5. When the cranberry jello mixture is firm, spread the cream cheese topping over the top. Garnish with additional chopped toasted walnuts or pecans. Refrigerate for about an hour to allow the topping to firm up.
notes
DO NOT use fresh pineapple in this recipe -- it will prevent the gelatin from setting up.
© Tara Kuczykowski
CUISINE: American / CATEGORY: Desserts