Chocolate Sin

By Mary

A decadent and well loved dessert made with a shortbread pecan crust and layers of cream cheese, pudding and whipped cream.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup of finely minced pecans
• 1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 cup of Cool Whip
• 2 (3.9 ounce) packages of instant chocolate pudding
• 3 cups of whole milk
• 2 cups of Cool Whip

Details

Servings 12
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 20mins
Adapted from deepsouthdish.com

Preparation

Step 1

First you'll make a basic shortbread type of crust by combining butter with flour and nuts, and spreading that into a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish, and baking it. Do this far enough in advance so that you have plenty of time to cool the crust completely. Remember, just like a cookie, this crust will not look set when you remove it from your oven. It will not look like it's done, but don't be tempted to keep baking it. It will continue baking from the residual heat of the pan and if you overcook it, the crust will harden and be difficult to cut through as a finished dessert. It should only be very lightly browned and should look like this - after it has cooled and set.

The first layer is made of softened cream cheese and powdered sugar whipped together and then you'll add a cup of homemade whipped topping or Cool Whip to that. I could eat a whole bowl of just this stuff!

Over the chocolate pudding layer, you'll add a layer of plain whipped topping.

Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight -

Yield:

Additional chopped pecans, for garnish,

Grated chocolate or Heath bits, for garnish.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, mix together the flour, pecans and butter until mixture resembles cookie dough. Spread into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch glass Pyrex baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for

Mix together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until well blended. Add 1 cup of the Cool Whip and mix together. Spread this layer over the cooled crust.

Mix together the two boxes of pudding with the 3 cups of milk until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Carefully spread over the cream cheese layer.

Spread the remaining cup of whipped topping on top. Cover and refrigerate - best if refrigerated 24 hours. Before serving, grate chocolate over the top and sprinkle with additional chopped nuts. Cut into squares.

Variations:

May be made with a variety of crusts by substituting crushed cookies, graham crackers or vanilla wafers for the flour in the crust. Use about 1-1/2 cups of crushed cookies and because cookies already have some fat in them, start with a few tablespoons of melted butter, using only enough to bind the cookies together. May also use a variety of pudding flavors (vanilla, chocolate, butterscotch, lemon, etc.), or use any two different, but compatible flavors of pudding, either one layered on the other or blended together. Okay to substitute margarine, sugar free and lower fat products, if desired. May also add a layer of sliced fruit, for example, use banana pudding with sliced bananas or vanilla with sliced strawberries.

Combine 1-1/2 cups of Oreo cookie crumbs with 2 to 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted, until crumbs bind together. Press into the bottom of the pan and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes. Set aside to cool completely, then proceed with remaining recipe. Crush additional Oreos to garnish top.