The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I’m sure I have shared this before, but I didn’t see it in my recipe file. A while ago, I accidently deleted my file, then deleted the trash file. Joe was able to retrieve most, but I think some never made it back.

First, at this time of year, when dinner comes around, we are hungry, but we want lighter fare and we eat later. So I haven’t shared many dinner ideas because what I have been fixing hasn’t been any recipes. For instance, today I made a large pasta salad with fake crab, boiled eggs, celery, olives, and cheese. The dressing is a combo of Caesar dressing and mayonnaise. I find the dressing gives it flavor and thins the mayonnaise down. I will serve it on lettuce or spinach and it will last for three days or until we are tired of it. There is plenty of fresh fruit available to serve with the salad.

A few suggestions, if you didn’t save the recipes, include the Chicken-Poppy Seed Salad, Strawberry Spinach Salad, Lemon Refrigerator Cake, 4 Bean Bake (great baked bean recipe) and John’s Frittata Recipe (more like a crustless quiche) Just email me at advertising@waitsburgtimes.com and ask me to send them to you.

Back to the recipe. I’ve made this several times. It’s perfect for warm days. It doesn’t need to be cooked and it’s rich and satisfying, while not heavy. I’m sure it could be frozen and served frozen (just thought of that!)

INGREDIENTS:

1 pkg regular Oreo cookies (not Double Stuff)-about 36 cookies

6 Tbsp butter, melted

1-8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened¼ c. granulated sugar

2 Tbsp cold milk, for cream cheese spread

1-12 oz tub Cool Whip, divided

2ea 3.9 oz pkgs Chocolate Instant Pudding

3 ¼ c. cold milk, for pudding

1 ½ c. mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Begin by crushing 36 Oreo cookies. I used my food processor for this (recipe says this, I don’t have one) but you could also place them in a large Ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin. When the Oreos have turned into fine crumbs, you are done.

Transfer the Oreo crumbs to a large bowl. Stir in 6 tablespoons melted butter and use a fork to incorporate the butter into the cookie crumbs. When the butter is distributed, transfer the mixture into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator while you work on the additional layer.

Mix the cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add in 2 tablespoons of milk, and sugar, and mix well. Stir in 1 ¼ c. Cool Whip. Spread this mixture over the crust.

In a bowl, combine chocolate instant pudding with 3 ¼ cups cold milk. Whisk for several minutes until the pudding starts to thicken. Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the previous cream cheese layer. Allow the dessert to rest for about 5 minutes so that the pudding can firm up further.

Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top. Place in the freezer for 1 hour or the refrigerator for 4 hours before serving.

ENJOY!

Recipe from centercutcook.com