Mississippi Mud

This is another recipe from my friend Jeannien's mother, JoAnn. It serves a ton of people and it is a crowd pleaser.   It is creamy and nutty and chocolately.  Yum!

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 1 C. of flour
• 1 C. chopped pecans

Layers:

• 1 C. of powered sugar
• 1 (8oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1 small box of instant vanilla pudding
• 1 small box of instant chocolate pudding
• 4 C. of milk
• 1 (12oz.) cool whip
• ½ C. of chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Remove the cream cheese and cool whip from the refrigerator
3. Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish with cooking spray
4. Mix the crust ingredients together, then spread into the baking dish
5. Press down into the dish so that the bottom is totally covered
6. Bake for 20 minutes, then let cool
7. Whip the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth, then fold in 1 C. of cool whip
8. Spread the mixture on top of the crust
9. Mix 2 C. of milk into each pudding mix let sit for 5 minutes
10. Spread the vanilla pudding in a layer, then the chocolate pudding in a layer
11. Cool whip is the final layer
12. Sprinkle with pecans
13. Refrigerate overnight

Tips and Tricks:

• Spreading the crust into the baking dish is easier said than done.  I dust my hands with flour and press the crust into place.  You don’t need the crust to go up the sides of the dish.
• I use light everything for this recipe.  I use sugar free pudding, low-fat milk, lite cool whip, and 1/3 less fat cream cheese.  I think it tastes great!