The Infamous Cherries Jubilee

On Christmas Eve 1969 this dessert almost set the dining room on fire.

Mom chose the recipe because it was intended to be an easy but fancy dessert— cherries marinated in a small amount of brandy, heated, then flamed and served over scoops of ice cream. Early in the day, she put the pie filling in a pyrex bowl, added about a tablespoon of brandy, covered it and left for the Christmas Eve rush at Lignell’s. Later in the day, I admit to adding an extra splash of brandy because I figured she hadn’t put in enough to make it interesting. I’m pretty sure Denis and Jim made a brandy contribution and probably so did Dad. Later that evening (after the ham and jello salad were cleared and Art Moin’s two-pound box of Russell Stovers candies handed around the table,) Mom brought in the cherries jubilee sauce and lit it. The flames were most impressive and certainly bigger than she expected. There were several guilty looking faces at the table. We were so naïve, we didn’t realize the flames would burn off the alcohol. But it still made a pretty good topping for the ice cream.

1 can cherry pie filling

Brandy

Vanilla ice cream a fire extinguisher (just kidding)