Bon Appetit: A good 4th of July Dessert

Every week I partake in dinner with my Small Group.  There are about 10 girls in this group and we all take turns bringing in different parts of the evening meal.  Last week, I was in charge of the dessert and I knew exactly what I wanted to bring.  My sister-in-law and my mother-in-law both have made this dessert on two separate occasions and each time I love it.  I love how light it is (not necessarily in calories, but in texture) and how it's a cold dessert so it cools you down.  I made it last Saturday night so it could chill in the 'fridge overnight for my Sunday night Small Group.  My in-laws were in town which hindered me from taking pictures to capture the different stages of this dessert (I didn't want them to think I was a crazy person taking all these pictures of crushing up graham crackers) :-D.  So, you'll just have to settle for the recipe - but trust me, you should definitely make it...it is oh-so-good!

Berried Treasure

Crust: 

*1.5 cups graham crackers crumbs (1.5 sleeves of graham crackers crushed)

*1/2 cup sugar

*1/3 cup butter - melted

Combine all ingredients and mix well.
Press firmly in a 9x13 baking dish and bake for 8 minutes at 350.
Cool (I stuck in the fridge to speed this up).

Filling:

*One 8 oz. cream cheese - soften

*1/4 cup of sugar

*2 T plus 2.5 cups of cold milk

*16 oz. cool whip - thawed

*2 pints of strawberries - halved

*One 6 oz vanilla instant pudding (I used two packages of the 3.4 oz boxes)

Beat cream cheese with 1/4 cup sugar and 2 T of milk until smooth; fold in 1/2 of Cool Whip.

Spread this over the crust and arrange the strawberries on top.

Mix pudding and 2.5 cups of milk; beat 1-2 minutes.

Pour over the strawberries and chill for several hours or overnight.

Spread with remaining Cool Whip: garnish with strawberries.

***You could even add other berries in with your strawberries to really get a "berried" treasure :)

If you make it, let me know what you think!  (I think this is my new favorite summer dessert)

Enjoy!

I'm linking up to:
Simply Sweet Home