Chocolate-Covered Cherry Pie

Ingredients:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut into pieces

1 ready-made chocolate crumb piecrust (16 ozs.)

1 can (21 ozs.) cherry pie filling

1 package (8 ozs.) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

16 maraschino cherries, with stems

2 cups thawed whipped topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium glass bowl, microwave the chocolate morsels at medium (50% power) 1-2 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt. Whisk in butter until smooth. Let cool, whisking occasionally, 5-10 minutes or to a desired spreading consistency.

Spoon half of the chocolate mixture into the piecrust. Cover and chill the remaining chocolate mixture.

Spoon the cherry pie filling evenly over the chocolate mixture in the piecrust. Place the piecrust on a baking sheet and set aside.

Beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, egg, and almond extract at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour this mixture evenly over the cherry pie filling mixture. (Note: the piecrust will be full, but contents will nto overflow when baking.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the center is set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill for 8 hours.

Drain the stemmed cherries on paper towels; pat dry.

Microwave the reserved chocolate mixture at medium (50% power) for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and stir until spreading consistency, reheating as necessary.

Dip the stemmed cherries in the chocolate mixture and place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Chill for 15 minutes.

Spread the remaining chocolate mixture evenly over the pie. Spoon 8 dollops of whipped toppign around the outer edge of the pie; place 2 chocolate covered cherries in the center of each dollop. Serve immediately.

Yields: 8 servings.