Cherry Streusel Special

I have a delicious dessert today called Cherry Streusel Special.  It was a winner in 

Pillsbury's 14th Grand National Bake Off 1962, submitted by Mrs. William Sloss of St. Lois, Missouri.

(click on image for recipe enlargement)

To make the crumble topping I tried out the pastry blender I got last year at an estate sale.  I had high hopes it would make it an easier job of blending butter, flour, sugar type stuff.  I was not impressed.  It continually got gunked up with the mix. When I say the mix I mean everything in the bowl.  All of the topping would stick to the blender and I had to wipe the mixture off to put everything back in the bowl.  It also wasn't quick and easy to clean.  I have seen an idea where you attach these old style pastry blenders to the wall and use them as a towel holder.  I think that may be mine's future, because I surely ain't putting up with that nonsense again.  But!  I did come up with an easier way to blend the crumble topping...I used a potato masher!  It worked really well.  I had to scrap some stuff off and put it back in the bowl, but it's sticky butter so it's going to happen some anyway, only I didn't have to do it as frequently as I did with the pastry blender.
I really like this recipe.  It uses convenient pre-fab pie filling and there are many options with that.  The construction of it didn't take too long to pull together.  It also has a bit of a glamour look to it, which I love. It's perfect as a nice holiday dessert or for a simple picnic. It's cheap to make.  It tastes good.  I guess the only let down is it takes 45 minutes to bake.  I added a dollop of cinnamon  sprinkled whipped cream for some extra fanciness.