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Cranberry Cream Pie has the tartness of cranberries as well as citrusy notes from the orange zest and soft fluffiness from marshmallows!
My child is trying to kill me.
Not my 6-year old and not the one in my womb.
No, it’s my 2 year old son that is consistently NOT sleeping that makes me want to either kill someone or hibernate for 17 years.
He will sleep about 9 hours a night and pretty regularly wake up between 5 and 6am. Apparently he’s taken to heart the ‘early to bed early to rise’ mentality from church. We try to convince him that it’s not time to wake up yet {ya know, cause it’s still dark out} but he doesn’t believe us. Logically rationalizing with a 2 year old at 5am doesn’t work very well. SO! We’ve resorted to giving him a flashlight, some books and a snack in hopes he’ll stays in bed until 6:30. And if he does happen to be done eating and reading before then, we let him watch Netflix in our bed while we rest until we can’t take anymore Dinotrucks.
We’d totally let him hang out in his own room and play, but he now shares a room with his sister in preparation for the new baby. And since she needs all the rest she can get because she has school, it’s made this rather difficult to keep him quiet in bed without waking her.
The easiest solution would be to just magically have him sleep until 7 every morning, but with or without a nap, his body clock just wakes him up!
A part of this comes with potty training because I feel like he’s waking up because he has to use the potty. In theory, this is awesome but in reality sucks because he doesn’t go back to bed.
So, wise and other sleep deprived parents: what is a mother to do? Do I too have to embrace early to bed early to rise too? Pleasesaynopleasesaynopleasesayno.
Besides that whole mess, I’m still on my pie kick. Yes, Thanksgiving is over but Christmas is headed out way in a hurry and I feel like it is my duty to continue bringing you the pies until you can’t stand them anymore. Slash I decide to make something else 🙂
Friends: I give you the Cranberry Fluff Pie. It’s another refrigerated, no-bake dessert that takes no time at all to throw together that taste like that jello salad but in pie form! #winning
My husband thought it was a little too tart, but I didn’t mind it at all! I made a note in the recipe that you could add more sugar if necessary, but I thought it was fine as is, especially with the marshmallows and coconut. To each his own! Adapt as you like.
Enjoy this little gem for the next holiday season, or just make it today and pretend you missed Thanksgiving 🙂
And any help you can give me on the kiddos sleeping situation would be grand. Thanks!!
Cranberry Cream Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9 inch pre-baked pie shell
- 12 oz softened cream cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- zest of 1 orange
- 14 oz cranberry sauce 1 can
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whip cream cheese and cream together until light and fluffy. Stir in sugar, vanilla, orange zest and cranberry sauce. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix again until thick.
- Taste and add more sugar if desired. {My husband thought this needed to be sweeter, but I thought it was just fine as is....which could be pregnancy talking...}
- Fold in marshmallows and coconut and pour into prepared pie shell. Top with fresh cranberries and more orange zest and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Could you just use cool whip and forget the heavy cream and cream cheese???
This sounds so good. I’m planning to try for Thanksgiving. Can I make ahead and freeze?
I would make a gingersnap cookie crust!!!
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Can I sub jellied cranberry sauce? My kids will only eat smooth pies.
Yes!
Heh. I’m happy when my 9 month old makes it to 5–I can deal with that. Ideally it would be 6am, but 5 I can handle. That being said, I’m in bed shortly after 9 every night because that is what works for me/us. Good luck and I’m hoping you find a solution that works for you all!
Keep the pies coming! I am all in favor or little to no bake pies in the winter. Yes I don’t have to worry about battling my A/C like I do during the summer but heck usually I have something else occupying the oven! This looks splendid.
we were having some issues with sleeping as well…I decided to purchase a kid alarm clock (Patch Products LLC Teach Me Time Talking Alarm Clock and Nightlight) found on Amazon the light turns green when you want them to get up…otherwise they are to stay in bed…it has worked like a charm in my house…good luck. also the pie looks amazing, can’t wait to try it
This pie looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it!
I am totally sympathetic to your sleeping issues, Lauren. Nothing worse than having your last few hours of sleep interrupted. Not sure if you would want to try this, but it worked for us many years ago… if you think he is waking up early to go to the bathroom, you might try taking him to go right before YOU go to bed. Usually, you can gently take them without really fully waking them up, and then they go right back to sleep. This might keep him from waking so early in the morning. Good Luck!
Looks and sounds fantastic and looks do festive. Good luck with the early riser….this too will pass and when they are teenagers you will be annoyed when it is like pulling teeth to get them to wake up and get to school on time for real!!! So many mornings I literally had to drag my daughter out of bed to get her up for school….. I know!
This cracks me up because Christian (who is just a few months older than Blake) is doing the same thing…except not as early. He wakes up between 6:30-7am and knocks really loudly on his bedroom door to let us know he’s awake. It’s pretty funny! The color of this pie alone looks amazing. I love tart desserts and I love how easy this is.
Beautiful pie, by the way! It does sound a little on the tart side, but yummy ingredients sound like this is a great pie!!
I know you don’t want to hear this, but when in your situation I always went to bed at the same time as the early riser. You couldn’t keep me from that bed, knowing it was my only chance to feel well the next day….
Girl, I feel you! I am the queen of lazy when it comes to my own sleep – whatever I need to do to get my sleep, I’ll do it. I know another commenter mentioned that you’re creating a different set of problems with your current solution, but I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I’ve done similar things with my kids, and I feel like it’s helped make them more independent in the long run. My oldest two are 6 and 4.5, and they have always been early risers. When they’re 2, it’s tough, but we did the same thing with the books, and letting them come into our bed in the morning to watch a show, and now they are old enough to where my 6 year old will get up, go potty, and go downstairs to turn on Netflix for himself. When my 4.5 year old wakes, she’ll go down and join him. The only one we’re held captive by now is the 1 year old!
Hi, with regards to your sons sleeping habits, I’m just curious… Are you interested in natural forms of health care? I have some AMAZING natural essential oil sleep blends that really work well. Email me or call or text and I can share some info with you. 🙂
From experience, don’t give him a flash light, food or books in bed. You’re creating a whole other set of problems. Maybe give up the nap in the afternoon. Allowing him into your bed to watch TV is a mistake too. Sometimes a 2 year old is not ready for potty training. If you ignore him and let him amuse himself with books and food, potty accidents can’t be avoided. Sadly, with the new baby, you’re going to be sleep deprived. I feel for you.
Many thanks Lauren for sharing all your fabulous recipes, & in such a fun, down to earth kind of way… With five kids, a busy business & a really big house to keep clean, not mention renovate… I need your inspiration in the kitchen! I love to cook & bake up a storm, though these days I don’t get much time; the mind is always willing, though the weary body is not! Such tasty recipes that are simple to create, is just my cup of tea. As I mentioned; with five fabulous kids, I’d love to offer you some inspiration of my own regarding your darling 2 year olds sleeping pattern of late; though I’m sad say I have no magic remedy… We’ve been through similar perils, & can only suggest that you go with the flow, until such time as he grows out of that & into something else! Have fun! Melissa (Wales, UK)
This looks fabulous, I’ll be trying this recipe this Sunday for dessert!
Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
I write my own food blog – have a look and tell me what you think! www.hampicklesandoreos.com
Lauren x
Our 19-month-old was up at 5:12 a.m. this morning so I feel your pain!! Nothing we’ve tried so far has made her sleep in…sigh.
A few suggestions…try giving him a banana before bed each night. They have melatonin in them which will help him sleep through the night. Also, I’m assuming he goes to bed before you do, go in just before you go to bed and wake him to go potty. Then put him back to bed…he will likely still be very tired at that time and because his sleep was disputed he will most likely sleep longer in the morning. Good luck!!!