Butter Pan
Hello friends, today I’m sharing another family recipe. Butter Pan is a recipe from my mother and it happens to be my sister’s favorite dessert. As I’ve shared before, even as a child, I was never really crazy about cake. For my birthdays, my mom would decorate these elaborately, decorated cakes and I would set the cake aside and dive right into the ice cream. Mom would spend hours and hours decorating a cake for my party and she always made the most beautiful designs. While I appreciated her time and effort, I just always preferred ice cream. Eventually she gave in and we’d have ice cream sundaes at my parties.
I wish I had some pictures of her cakes to share with you. They were gorgeous!
For my sister, Butter Pan was always the number one favorite. It’s easy to prepare and keeps for several days (if it isn’t devoured by then) and the ingredients are very affordable. If you’re a regular follower of the Ketchum Kitchen, you know I’m all about easy recipes using affordable ingredients. And of course, recipes that are made from the heart! This particular recipe is near and dear to my heart, because it brings me back to birthday celebrations for my sister. My sister and I are 7 years apart, but we have been very close for most of our lives. She was the maid of honor in my wedding and no one can make me laugh like she can. She lives in Virginia, so I don’t see her often enough, but whenever we are together, we are having a good time. We are usually laughing until we snort.
[tweetthis]Butter Pan is the perfect combination of creamy, chocolatey and nutty. Just the right level of sweetness #recipe [/tweetthis]
My sister is having a rather “big” birthday next month, so I made Butter Pan in honor of her. The family happens to love this desert as well, so there were no complaints around the Ketchum house. Even though my sister couldn’t be here to taste the Butter Pan, I did snap a photo and share it with her. That’s almost as good as sharing it, right?
Enough story telling, let’s get cooking, shall we?
Start by toasting some walnut pieces in a dry sauté pan. Toasting nuts helps relate the oils and maximizes their flavor. Walnuts have numerous health benefits, so in addition to being crunchy and delicious, you can feel good about eating them. So, essentially, can feel good about eating Butter Pan.
When the walnuts are done toasting, set about 1/4 cup aside and mix the rest with flour and butter, stir with a fork and spread into the bottom of a baking dish. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.
While the crust is baking, make the chocolate pudding. Chocolate fudge pudding is super yummy in this recipe. Standard chocolate pudding works just fine, but the chocolate fudge flavored mix is a little richer and extra delicious.
If you don’t have a standing mixer to make the pudding, a hand mixer will do the job just as well. Mix the pudding mix with milk until it thickens.
Next, mix the Neufchatel or cream cheese with cool whip until combined. Make sure that the cream cheese is at room temperature or it won’t combine with the cool whip. Neufchatel cheese is basically low fat cream cheese. It is just as good, but 1/3 less calories.
The final step is just layering the Butter Pan. Top the crust with the cream cheese/cool whip mixture, followed by the pudding, and topped with a layer of cool whip. Garnish with grated semi-sweet chocolate and toasted walnuts for a pretty presentation.
Make a batch of Butter Pan the next time you have friends over for game night. They are going to love it!
Leave me a comment and let me know if you’ve tried this recipe and snap a photo and tag #ketchumkitchen on Social Media.
Thanks for stopping by my kitchen, where everything, without exception, is made from the ♥
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1.5 cups walnut pieces + 1/4 cup for garnish
- 1 package of Cool Whip whipped topping
- 8 ounces room temperature Neufchatel cheese
- 2 packages chocolate fudge pudding mix (or regular chocolate pudding mix)
- 2.5 cups cold milk
- Semi-sweet chocolate for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Toast the walnuts in a dry saute pan on medium heat until lightly toasted.
- Mix 1.5 cups of the walnuts with the flour and melted butter. Mix well with a fork, then spread in the bottom of a 8" x 11" glass baking dish.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until lightly brown.
- Meanwhile, mix the pudding mix and cold milk in a mixer until thickened. Set aside.
- Stir 1/2 the Cool whip and room temperature Neufchatel cheese until combined.
- Once the crust comes out of the oven and is cooled, layer the Cool Whip/Neufchatel cheese mixture over it. Next, add the pudding in an even layer over the cheese mixture. Finally, add a layer of the other 1/2 container of Cool Whip.
- Garnish with grated semi-sweet chocolate and the other 1/4 cup of toasted walnuts.
- Refrigerate overnight for best results.
