A Recipe for A Frozen Dessert Filled with Love
This article is part of the Recipe Box Roulette series, an innovative "card game" crafted to pay homage to the curators of long-forgotten or overlooked recipe boxes and breathe new life into their treasured dishes.
The Marshmallow Period
My grandma’s recipe boxes have a plethora of recipes with marshmallows as an ingredient.
I grew up in a time that could have been deemed the marshmallow period.
I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t a bag of mini marshmallows in my mom’s cupboard. Everything from salads to desserts contained those fluffy, sweet little pillows of sugar.
Ambrosia Salad, sweet potato casserole, cabbage lime JELL-O salad – yep it’s a thing – Rice Krispies Treats, Watergate Salad and the list goes on. These were salads and desserts that often found their way to picnics, potlucks or church socials.
Marshmallows, Misspellings and Gerry
As I pulled this frozen dessert recipe card from the recipe box, three things immediately caught my eye. The first was, of course, the marshmallows, the second was the misspelling of dessert (the Olson clan are notorious mis-spellers), and the third was the attribution in the upper corner – Gerry.
Gerry is my grandma’s nephew’s wife. A midwest girl through and through. She grew up on her family’s farm in Northern Minnesota. She married a local boy, raised her girls, and now spoils her grandchildren in that same small town.
The attribution to Gerry made so much sense to me. She is the most gracious hostess you will ever meet. Her self-appointed purpose in life is to cater to an ensure everyone’s comfort. Whether that is a full plate, opening up the local library so you can use the internet, or connect you to the right people.
During our childhood summer visits to Buster and Gerry’s, we spent most of the time outside of the house. They were comfortable visits. No pretenses. The adults sitting on metal lawn chairs talking about family and life. The kids running around in the cool, tall grass, climbing trees and wishing for dusk to fall so that the firefly catching could commence.
This frozen dessert recipe encapsulates the ease, simplicity and sweetness of those family visits to Northern Minnesota.
Raspberry Banana Frozen Dessert
This Raspberry Banana Frozen Dessert is a recipe my grandma got from her niece-in-law (is that a thing?), Gerry. It’s a perfect dessert to serve on a hot summer day while watching the kids catch fireflies.
Ingredients
1 (8 oz) (226g) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup (88g) honey
1 cup (225g) sliced bananas
1 10 oz (283g) package frozen raspberries, partially thawed
1/2 cup (115g) cream, whipped
2 cup (90g) mini marshmallows
Method
In the bowl of a stand mixer, blend cream cheese and honey until smooth.
Stir in raspberries and bananas.
Fold whipped cream and marshmallows into cream cheese mixture.
Pour into a loaf pan and freeze for 8 hours or until firm.
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A story that contains marshmallows, cabbage and fireflies—quite a feat! And entertaining.
Nostalgic!