Chocolate Mac Nut Icebox Pie

November 30th, 2010 by justJENN

While I usually only bake from scratch, something that always steals my heart is Jell-o+pudding. It reminds me of when I was a kid, my mom made TONS of desserts using those products.

If you look in old skool Hawaiian cookbooks Jell-o/pudding recipes are abundant. This one is a classic that you’ll find at potlucks, family parties and it’s an all around good go-to dessert. Super easy, I also put a little twist on it. Perfect for the holidays!

crust ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup butter
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chocolate covered macadamia nuts, chopped

1st layer ingredients:
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip

2nd layer ingredients:
2 (3 oz) packages Chocolate Pudding
3-1/2 cups milk
1/2 (4 oz) a container of Cool Whip
1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 pan with melted butter. Set aside.

In a bowl, cut together the flour, butter, sugar and salt. Press the mixture into the greased pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Now chop up the chocolate covered mac-nuts. Chop those babies coarsely – but keep them small, you don’t want anyone to lose a filling.

The chocolate covered mac nuts to give the bottom layer a little bit of richness and crunch. While the crust is still warm, sprinkle the chopped choco-mac nuts on top. The chocolate will soften and melt a bit….mmm.

In a large bowl mix together the softened cream cheese and powdered sugar.

Fold in the container of thawed Cool Whip. Spread this mixture on top of the cooled crust. Place it in the fridge to set.

Now start the pudding. Mix together the two boxes of chocolate pudding with the milk. Since you are using less milk than the package states, this pudding will be a lot thicker and also set pretty quick so work fast.

Stir until thickened, the pour that on top of the cream cheese mixture and spread evenly.

Spread the 4 oz of Cool Whip on top of the pudding, then sprinkle with chopped mac nuts. Keep in the fridge covered in plastic wrap until you are ready to serve.

This is a perfect potluck party dessert!

Kraft Foods sent me a lovely HUGE gift basket filled with holiday baking goodies, Williams Sonoma towels, baking pans and treats, many of which I used for this recipe. Enter HERE to win one of your own!