Since my 85 years have started to catch up with me, I don’t cook as often, particularly experimenting with new recipes that I can share. I do still cook the family holiday meals, though, and every Sunday fix lunch for my two daughters which features a favorite recipe and is followed by 3 hours of various kinds of needlework and chatting. For these lunches, I always make something they especially like from my blogs of over 10 years and I thought it might be fun to share my Sunday desserts each week.
Our dessert this week is an easy-to-make chilled concoction from 1984 named The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford. I received this recipe in an exchange back when we did things by snail mail and it has been a favorite ever since. As I said in my post in 2010, Robert Redford still looks good to me (I’m 4 years older than he is).
https://lillianscupboard.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/the-next-best-thing-to-robert-redford/
Crust: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour Filling: 4 oz. cream cheese, softened Preheat oven to 350 degrees F To Make the Crust: Mix the flour, butter and pecans well. Press mixture in a 9×9 baking pan. Bake @ 350 degrees F for 15 minutes until lightly brown. Cool To Make Filling and Assemble: Layer 1: Beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Fold in 4 ounces (half of an 8-oz. carton) of whipped topping. Spread over cooled crust. Layer 2: Mix vanilla pudding and 3/4 cup of milk until thickened. Spread over Layer 1. Layer 3: Mix chocolate pudding and 3/4 cup of milk until thickened. Spread over Layer 2. Layer 4: Spread remaining 4 oz. of whipped topping over Layer 3. Grate the block of milk chocolate over the top of the dessert and garnish with whole toasted pecans. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford
1/4 cup butter, cut in small cubes
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/2 cup granulated sugar
8 oz. carton of Cool Whip whipped topping, divided
Small package of instant vanilla pudding (four 1/2-cup svgs.)
1-1/2 cups milk, divided
Small package of instant chocolate pudding (four 1/2-cup svgs.)
Block of Hershey chocolate bar or Ghirardelli milk chocolate bar
Pecans for garnishing
Also served: A favorite beef entrée that cooks slowly in the oven and is served over rice – Really Good Ginger Beef. I always have steamed /sautéed broccoli and carrots with this meal. From my post of 2007:
https://lillianscupboard.wordpress.com/2007/09/22/really-good-ginger-beef/