Best Butterfinger No- Bake Dessert

We were having some friends over last month and looking for a decadent but easy dessert to throw together at kind of the last minute.  I suggested a no-bake dessert and Alec headed to Pinterest to see what he could find.  He found a recipe he really liked but we tweaked it (a lot!) to suit our tastes and the ingredients we had on hand.

The dessert consists of 4 layers; a cookie crust, a sweetened cream cheese layer, a pudding layer, and the cool whipped topping.

Ingredients:

For the crust:
14 ounces Oreo cookies; Crushed
1 stick melted butter

For the sweetened cream cheese layer:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup crushed Butterfinger bars (1 small bar from a king size package)

For the pudding layer:
1 package instant chocolate pudding (we used Devil's food)
1 1/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
4 Tablespoons powdered sugar

For the whipped cream layer:
1 package cool whip; thawed
Hot Fudge (to drizzle)
1/4 cup crushed Butterfinger bars (the other small bar from the king size package)

First we sprayed an 8x8 pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Then Alec combined the crushed Oreo cookies with the butter and pressed it into the pan and up the sides a bit to create a crust.  We set that in the fridge to set up while whipping together the sweetened cream cheese layer.

Next he combined the cream cheese, sugar, whipping cream and butterfingers until he had a smooth cheesecake like layer and spread that over the cooled Oreo crust.

We set that back in the fridge and set to work on the pudding layer.

He whisked together the pudding mix and the milk and set that in the fridge for 10 minutes until he had some soft set pudding.  He set the bowl from the stand mixer in the freezer to chill then poured the whipping cream and sugar into the bowl working quickly to make fresh whipped cream. He then folded in the chocolate pudding and spread that over the cheesecake layer. The whole dish went back in the fridge until we were ready to serve it.

Before serving Alec spread cool whip, drizzled some hot fudge and the rest of the crushed Butterfinger cookies on top.  We cut it into 16 small servings (though you could easily make 9 or 12 too!).   It was a hit!

Just look at all those decadent layers!  Best of all it didn't feel like a heavy dessert either.  All that whipped cream kept it feeling nice and light.

Each bite was like a little taste of heaven.