Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Better than Robert Redford Dessert

I really would like a different name for this dessert, but it's not my recipe, so not my choice I guess! When I take it to picnics, everyone's like, "What did you bring?" and I'm like, "Better than Robert Redford..." Cue crickets as everyone gives me confused looks.

However, it tastes so awesome that everyone forgets their momentary confusion over the name. It's the perfect cool summer dessert.

Better than Robert Redford Dessert
Adapted from Family Circle

1 (rounded) cup of flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 (16 oz) container Cool Whip, thawed
4 cups milk
2 (3.4 oz) boxes instant vanilla pudding
2 (3.9 oz) boxes instant chocolate pudding
1 regular Hershey bar
chopped nuts (for top)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 13x9 pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, pecans, walnuts, and butter. Pat mixture into the prepared pan so it covers the bottom. Bake for 15 minutes and cool completely. (Note: cooling COMPLETELY is very important - tried to finish it once without cooling it completely. Big mistake. The crust came off the bottom in chunks and mixed in with the next layer. Oops. If you're impatient like me place the pan on a cooling rack to make the process go faster.)

3. In a bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in 2 cups of Cool Whip. Spread over the cooled crust. (As this mixture is fairly sticky, I've found that dropping spoonfuls of the mixture all over crust and then spreading those together works best.)

4. Prepare vanilla pudding using 2 cups of milk. Spread over the cream cheese layer (again, dropping spoonfuls all over and then spreading works best to keep the layers seperate). Prepare chocolate pudding with remaining 2 cups of milk. Spread the chocolate pudding over the vanilla (again with my patented "spoonfuls" method).

5. Spread remaining Cool Whip over chocolate pudding with - you guessed it - the spoonfuls method. (You may have a little extra Cool Whip left over, depending on how much you want on the dessert. Feel free to eat the extra with a spoon. If it's left over from a recipe, then it doesn't count as calories. Right? We'll go with that).

6. Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Using a vegetable peeler, cut chocolate curls from the Hershey bar and sprinkle on top.

7. Place the dessert in the refrigerator anywhere from 2 hours to overnight before serving. Cut into squares to serve.

(I'm not affiliated with Cool Whip or Hershey - just my preferred brands to use with this recipe.)


3 comments:

  1. We call that chocolate delight. I've never seen the chocolate shaved on top and it's not really overly chocolate. People really like this desert! Be Blessed!

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  2. totally printing this out. I have seen it before and have ooh and ahhh over it but never make. This time I totally am...thank you!

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  3. We LOVE this recipe!! I've made it many times and it is super delish!!

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