Friday, March 5, 2010

Four Layer Dessert

This is one of my husband's favorites. But as ashamed as I am to admit it, I usually do my fair share of eating a pan of this goodness...like maybe half a pan. I just can't help it. The combination of cream cheese and chocolate makes my taste buds take over all my other senses, including logic. Do I really need a fourth piece? Probably not. Am I now going to have to work out for an extra 30 minutes today? Definitely. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

There are dozens of versions of 4 layer dessert on the internet, many of which may be quite similar to this one. But my mother-in-law first sent me this recipe, so the credit for it shall go to her (thanks Martha!).

Four Layer Dessert
Recipe from Kelly's mother-in-law
Picture by Caroline

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups Cool Whip*
2 small packages instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine flour, butter, and walnuts in a small bowl. Pat dough into an ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
  2. Meanwhile, cream together powdered sugar and cream cheese. Stir in 1 cup cool whip. Spread over cool crust.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine pudding and milk. Spread over cream cheese layer.
  4. Top with remaining cool whip. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons chopped walnuts, if desired.
*Cool whip comes in both non-dairy and dairy varieties. I personally think the dairy tastes much much better, but it doesn't make a difference which one you use for this recipe.

5 comments:

The Hills... said...

My mom used to make this when I was growing up. It's super yummy. I don't think I appreciated it as much though when I was a kid, since it had nuts in it!

Jessie said...

I have an aversion to Cool Whip. Is there any reason I couldn't use whipping cream for this. It sounds delicious.

two little chefs said...

I'm assuming that as long as you're whipping your own cream, it would be fine in both the cream cheese mixture and then topping. Let us know how it works out.

Maddie said...

Real cream!! Always, real cream!!!!!!!! (Except if you're lactose intolerant.)

Jessie said...

This was delicious. As CJL has a slight reaction to walnuts, I substituted graham crackers for nuts in the crust. I did sprinkle a few nuts on top, however.

The whipped cream works out great and holds up for a few days (if your dessert lasts that long :)).

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