Bing Cherry Congealed Salad

I read the reviews and made this based on the advice given. I heated the cherry and pineapple juice with the jello added then poured in the coke. I put this mixture in the frig for 30 min then added the fruit, nuts and "cubed" cream cheese...stirred and let sit overnite. When ready to serve I set the mold in a sink of warm water for a few minutes...this loosened it from the edges which allowed me to successfully flip it over for a beautifully ,delicious, molded salad! Received tons of compliments on the taste as well as the beauty.

I have a recipe with similar ingredients, minus the cream cheese, that I've been making for a long time. I thought the cream cheese might give this a bit of a creamy texture and maybe alter the color a bit to pink. First, you MUST allow the gelatin mixture to congeal slightly (takes about 1 to 1-1/4 hours) in the fridge. If you don't, all of your fruit and nuts will sink to the bottom. Next, it is IMPOSSIBLE to incorporate the cream cheese into the gelatin even if you ultimately use a mixer (I know because I finally tried that). What you end up with is red gelatin with tiny white flecks of cream cheese which isn't too attractive. IMO the cream cheese adds nothing to this recipe except calories. You simply can't taste it, so why bother? The term "fluffy" should be removed from the recipe because you'll never reach a fluffy stage. I used sugar-free jello, and it firmed up fine, but you just don't have that beautiful clear jello appearance. It looks a little "curdled" for lack of a better expression. Tastes OK, but sorry, I'll stick with my old tried-and-true recipe.