Making desserts can be a challenge for a lot of people, but not with this easy lush dessert recipe. As a layered dessert, it looks fancy and complicated, but in reality, it takes minimal effort. You’ll be the star of the party if you bring this layered dessert!
Making lush desserts ahead of time
This recipe is great for those who don’t really love to bake, or who want something super easy to throw together.
Not only does it use a lot of shortcuts from the store (cool whip, pie filling, graham cracker crumbs, etc), but it can also be made entirely ahead of time.
I wouldn’t make this more than 1-2 days ahead though, since the textures will get softer the longer it sits.
You could make a crust out of anything you want (shortbread, nuts, etc.), but we really like using vanilla sandwich cookies here to lend a subtly sweet flavor, without competing with the other flavors in the dish, namely the cherry cheesecake vibes we’ve got going on in here. With the cream cheese layer AND the cheesecake pudding layer, along with the cherry pie filling (secret: we’re suckers for the store-bought stuff!), this dessert is unbelievably yummy.
Ingredients
- 14.3 ounces vanilla sandwich cookies (Golden Oreos or generic, approximately 36 cookies, 2½ cups when crushed)
- ⅓ cup salted butter, melted and cooled (plus more for greasing the dish)
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 16 ounces frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip), defrosted and divided into 1 cup, ½ cup, and the remainder
- 6.8 ounces cheesecake-flavored instant pudding mix (two 3.4-ounce boxes)
- 3 cups whole milk
- 42 ounces cherry pie filling (two 21-ounce cans)
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Butter a 9 x 13 glass baking dish and set aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor, crush the vanilla sandwich cookies until small even crumbs form. Add melted butter and pulse until combined.
- Press the cookie mixture into the greased baking dish and place in the freezer for 10 minutes to chill while preparing the next layer.
- With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla, and 1 cup of frozen whipped topping until smooth and creamy.
- Spread cream cheese mixture over the chilled cookie crumb layer and place back into freezer for another 10 minutes.
- With a whisk or beater, combine both packages of pudding mix, milk, and ½ cup of frozen whipped topping. Whisk until combined and the mixture begins to thicken.
- Spread the pudding layer over the chilled cream cheese layer and chill for 30 minutes or until the pudding is set.
- Pour the cherry pie filling over the chilled pudding layer. Spread carefully so that it doesn’t mix with the layers beneath.
- Gently top with remaining whipped topping. Sprinkle with chopped
- pecans and chill in fridge for 1 to 2 hours.
Notes
- The pudding will not set with dairy-free or lactose-free milk. Make sure you are using regular milk in this recipe.
- Make sure that your cream cheese is softened before starting this step. If your cream cheese is too hard, it can result in lumps in your cheesecake.
- Chilling overnight will allow all the flavors to mingle and blend together even more
