Cherry Cheesecake Lush Dessert

This past week I tried a couple of new recipes on the boys and they were met with thunderous applause...cowboy style, which translates to complete silence around the table interspersed with grunts of appreciation. 😉 When a dish keeps cowboys from telling the latest windy story about the rankest horse and the wildest cow gathering, it's a good sign. And if they are welcomed with such accolades, then they earn a spot in my favorite cookbook and a blog post to share with ya'll.

                              

At some point I pinned this from Pinterest and I really do enjoy trying a lot of the recipes I collect there. This one links back HERE.

       

Cherry Cheesecake Lush Dessert

1 C Vanilla Wafer Crumbs
1 C pecans, finely chopped
1 stick butter, melted
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 C powdered sugar
16 oz Cool Whip
2 small boxes cheesecake pudding
3 C milk
2 cans Cherry Pie filling
1/2 C chopped pecans

*Combine vanilla wafer crumbs, finely chopped pecans, and melted butter. Press into 9 x 13" baking pan - bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. In a separate mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 1 1/2 C Cool Whip. Mix until smooth; spread evenly over cooled crust. In another bowl, combine cheesecake pudding mix, milk, and 1 C Cool Whip - mix until smooth. Spread evenly over cream cheese layer. Top with Cherry Pie filling. Spread remaining Cool Whip over pie filling and sprinkle with pecans. Freeze.

*The original recipe calls for 1 can of Cherry Pie Filling, but I felt like 2 gave the dessert a better cherry / cheesecake ratio. It also calls for refrigerating, but I popped mine in the deep freeze - because I ran out of room in the fridge and I think that's where I'll always keep it. YUM.