Chocolate Cream Cheese Fantasy
Here is one of my favorite desserts Bettys Chocolate Cream Cheese Fantasy. This dessert has a crisp cookie crust and is layered with flavored cream cheese and chocolate its the best
Here is one of my favorite desserts Bettys Chocolate Cream Cheese Fantasy. This dessert has a crisp cookie crust and is layered with flavored cream cheese and chocolate its the best
- 1 cup all-purpose or self-rising flour
- 1 stick margarine (softened to room temperature)
- 1 12-oz bag chopped pecans (3/4 cup for crust, 1/2 cup for garnish on top)
- 1 small package instant chocolate pudding (i used snackwell's 3 7/8 oz. package devil's food)
- 2 cups skim milk
- 2 8-oz packages cream cheese
- 1.5 cups confectioner's sugar
- 2 cups whipped topping thawed
- Carbohydrate 68.4176783333333 g
- Cholesterol 43.9733333333333 mg
- Fat 46.3679983333333 g
- Fiber 3.55110010842482 g
- Protein 10.91186 g
- Saturated Fat 14.88874725 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (251g)
- Sodium 409.68925 mg
- Sugar 64.8665782249085 g
- Trans Fat 3.38416549999999 g
- Calories 716 calories
Step-by-step
- Ahead of time, make the chocolate pudding.
- Add 2 cups skim milk to a small package of chocolate instant pudding mix.
- Beat with a mixer for 2 minutes, cover, and refrigerate.
- Next, make the crust.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 1 stick of softened margarine, and 3/4 cup chopped pecans.
- When well-mined, crumble into and 8 inch by 11 inch Pyrex dish.
- Use a fork (or your hands to press the dough all the way to the corners of the dish, so that you have an even covering all over the bottom of the dish.
- Place in an oven, preheated to 350 degrees, and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.
- Look in on the crust occasionally to make sure it is not getting brown; it should be a nice tan color when done.
- Remove the crust from the oven and set it on a pad on the kitchen counter to cool down to room temperature.
- You can speed up the cooling of the crust by placing the Pyrex dish in the refrigerator or freezer for an hour or so.
- Be sure that it is completely cool before continuing the recipe.
- Next make the cream cheese layer.
- Place the (2) 8 oz. packages of cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and mash them with a fork.
- Add the 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, and continue to mash the mixture with a fork.
- When the confectioner's sugar is incorporated into the cream cheese, carefully blend in the whipped topping, until it is all absorbed by the cream cheese mixture.
- Now start building your dessert by layers.
- On top of the crust, lightly spread 1/2 of the cream cheese/whipped topping mixture all of the way to the edges and corners.
- Next, spread the entire chilled chocolate pudding on top of the cream cheese/whipped topping layer.
- Now, spread the remainder of the cream cheese/whipped topping mixture on top of the chocolate layer.
- This can be accomplished by putting small spoonfuls of the cream cheese/whipped topping mixture all over the top of the chocolate layer, and then using a spreading knife to connect them.
- It is more than likely that some of the chocolate may get mixed in with this last layer (which is okay).
- Finish the dessert off by garnishing the top with about 1/2 cup of chopped pecans.
Unlike traditional baked chocolate tarts that rely on a single, uniform custard set inside a fragile pastry shell, layered refrigerator desserts trade architectural simplicity for a dramatic multi-tiered cross-section that stabilizes entirely through chilling rather than oven heat. This genre of mid-century American dessert gained immense popularity alongside the commercialization of instant pudding mixes and stable whipped toppings, which allowed home cooks to bypass the finicky process of tempering egg yolks and starch on a stovetop. When replacing manufactured convenience products with fresh components—such as swapping instant pudding for a scratch-made dark chocolate ganache thickened with cornstarch or eggs—the moisture levels and set times shift dramatically, requiring careful refrigeration management to prevent the crust from becoming soggy while ensuring the dairy layers maintain their structural integrity. Pressing the flour and pecan dough into an 8-inch by 11-inch baking dish creates a toasted base that must cool entirely to room temperature before assembly, since residual heat will melt the whipped topping and destabilize the cream cheese matrix. Allowing the baked crust to chill in the freezer for an hour accelerates this temperature drop, ensuring the fats in the margarine do not liquefy upon contact with the dairy layers.
