lucious lemon delight

CRUST:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup ground (or very finely chopped pecans)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

LAYERS:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 2½ Cups thawed Cool Whip (scroll down for a homemade alternative)
• 2  small pkgs instant lemon pudding (roughly 99 grams each)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice (optional, but I like the tartness it provides)
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup icing sugar (also known as powdered sugar or confectioners sugar)
• 3 tbsp finely chopped pecans (to sprinkle on top)

TO MAKE THE CRUST:

Combine flour, chopped pecans and melted butter.  Make sure your pecans are either ground or chopped very finely.  This will produce a crust that holds together nicely.

Stir these three ingredients until well-blended and crumbly.

Press this mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes.

Cool completely

ADDING YOUR LAYERS:

With electric beaters, mix cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth and creamy.

Fold in 1 cup of Cool Whip, and spread over crust.

*If your crust pulls apart, don’t panic.  Your pecans were likely a bit course (ask me how I know this).  Just work slowly (you may have to get your fingers in there) to spread the cream cheese layer as best as you can.

Whisk together pudding packets and milk.  Add lemon juice, and continue to stir until thick.

Spread pudding over cream cheese layer.

Spoon remaining Cool Whip over the pudding.

Sprinkle with a dusting of chopped pecans.

Refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.