Cool Creamy Chocolate Dessert Recipe

15

Ingredients

Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 5 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted
Cooking spray
..............................
Filling:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) carton Cool Whip, thawed and divided
3 cups milk
2 (3.9-ounce) packages chocolate instant pudding mix
Unsweetened cocoa (optional)

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. To prepare crust, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor; pulse 2 times or until combined. Add butter; pulse 10 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in pecans. Firmly press mixture into bottom of a 13 x 9–inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 20 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Cool completely.

3. To prepare filling, place 1 cup sugar and cream cheeses in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Fold in half of whipped topping. Spread cream cheese mixture on cooled crust. Cover loosely; refrigerate 1 hour.

4. Combine milk and pudding mix in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until pudding is set. Spread the pudding mixture over cream cheese layer. Spread remaining half of thawed whipped topping over pudding layer. Cover and chill for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cocoa, if desired. Cut into 15 pieces.
.....................

REVIEWS:

I have made this recipe several times. I too prefer walnuts to pecans and use Lemon pudding instead of Chocolate. I love the shortbread crust. Once for a special occasion, I put a divider in and used both Chocolate pudding on one side, and Lemon on the other. Pleased everyone. Lemon is still my favorite.

Best part: Crust. My original recipe for this dish calls for 2 cups of pecans and 2 sticks of butter. To be able to cut out so much fat and still have a crisp, flaky crust - fantastic! Worst part: Where did the cream cheese go? Mine seemed to get overtaken by the pudding layer. Next time I will double the cream cheese layer (what else am I going to do with half a block of fat-free cream cheese?) which should help offset the sweetness, too.

Best dessert in a long time! I did use a whole block of cream cheese. I also made cooked chocolate pudding, as I like the taste better. (just use 3 1/2 cups milk or slightly less) I cooled it for 30 minutes with plastic wrap pressed over the top and then 15 minutes in the refrig before spreading over the cream cheese layer. You could use lemon, butterscotch or other flavor pudding for this! Be sure to spray the bottom of the pan well with the oil. Helps to release the crust when serving.

This is an old favorite from my mother's file....always gets compliments. I use chocolate curls on top - very pretty. But you don't want to add them until the last minute because they will eventually turn the white topping pinkish in color where they touch it. Another take on this recipe is to use vanilla pudding instead of chocolate and sprinkle coconut on top.

Delicious!!! This was a huge hit for a large group of people. The only downside is that it takes a fair amount of planning ahead, not something you can just throw together at the last minute. It's worth the time it takes though, so I'm sure I will make it again.

This was great! I used chopped chocolate chips in the crust instead of pecans and sugar free whipped topping. It received rave reviews. I'll be making this for my husband's birthday. It passed his test!

YUMMY! Easy and oh so good. My son gave it a thumbs up! Made it a couple of times already and I'm planning on making it for our next special occasion.

My entire family loves it. It was easy to make and I will make it again for sure.

I did really like this dessert! I used walnuts instead of pecans because I liked them better I would just substitute any kind that you like in the crust. I also thought there was a lot of the chocolate pudding in it that I couldn't taste the cream cheese. Next time I will cut down on the pudding or add more cream cheese but after refrigerating overnight it setup perfectly.

This was simply divine. I was a little unsure at first as I'm not a huge pudding dessert fan, but I'm so glad I made this. It's going to be a favorite around here from now on. I made it as is, but just threw in a little extra cream cheese. The crust is the best part.

I've made this a few times, and it turns out perfectly every time - So easy to make! I've tried putting banana slices between the cream cheese and pudding layer for an extra dimension of flavor. Yummmm!

Awesome! Usually the crusts in bars like this are pretty bland, but the addition of the toasted pecans really made it pop with the chocolate. I used 8oz. fat-free cream cheese and it worked fine - didn't really get "fluffy" during beating w/ sugar, but tastes great. Will definitely make this again!

This is my families top ten desserts, my youngest son and I could eat the whole pan if we could. I don't put cocoa powder on top, I save a few chopped pecans and sprinkle them over the top. I love, love, love this dessert!

My grandma passed this same recipe down to us, though she calls it Heavenly Dessert. Hers was made with walnuts, but with pecans this is TRULY heavenly. We can't get enough of it!