Friends, meet your new favorite summer dessert… “Mountain Mama” (or “Mama’s Mountain” as Reed calls it). This special dessert is one of those that brings up a swell of memories. If you look through an old church cookbook from the 1960s or 70’s you’d probably find variations of it, calling for ingredients like instant chocolate and vanilla pudding, cream cheese and cool whip. Our grandmothers new a thing or two about making amazing things from boxes - that classic era of the, “rise of convivence foods”. It’s funny because they also know a thing or two about making stuff from scratch - but I’m not sure if scratch-made chocolate and vanilla pudding and actual whipping cream would create the same “Mountain Mama” that we know and love.

My sister and mom both have birthdays in July and this was on the menu for at least one of those occasions. I remember my sister always asked for fried okra, friend chicken and Mountain Mama on her birthday menu (yes, we have strong Kentucky roots!). I didn’t appreciate the food or the effort my mom put into that meal when I was young, but now I’m drooling just writing about it. Let’s do it again this summer please!

This Mountain Mama has a pecan shortbread-like crust, a layer of sweetened and softened cream cheese, a layer of chocolate and vanilla pudding (mixed together, not separate - I guess to make the chocolate less intense?), and then a layer of cool whip. If you search for recipes similar to this there will lots of variations, I’m sure. But, this is the way we do it and I don’t see why I would change it.

The crunchy buttery crust, the slight tang of the cream cheese, the richness of the pudding and fluffy cool whip topping satisfy all your wants and dreams for tastes and textures in a dessert. Reed even said one night that it was “A little too buttery for him,” which I think in adult words would be “Man, this dessert is rich!”. It is. You won’t need a huge helping to satisfy a sweet tooth, but you also might notice that you can’t stop licking the pan.

Thank you Mamaw and Mom for starting and carrying on the “Mountain Mama” tradition in our family.

Enjoy!

Yield: 10-12

Mom's Mountain Mama

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 50 Min

A chilled dessert with a buttery pecan short bread crust and layers of sweetened cream cheese, chocolate and vanilla pudding, and fluffy cool whip topping that satisfy all your wants and dreams for tastes and textures in a dessert. You won’t need a huge helping to satisfy a sweet tooth, but you also might notice that you can’t stop licking the pan.

Ingredients

2 , 3.9-ounce boxes chocolate pudding mix
1, 3.9-ounce box vanilla pudding mix
3 cups milk
1 cup flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 stick butter, melted
1, 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 container of cool whip, divided and softened
Toppings: shaved chocolate and chopped nuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the chocolate and vanilla pudding mixes and milk in a large bowl and stir with a whisk. It should get thick quickly. Place in the fridge to let it set just a bit more.
Meanwhile, stir the flour, chopped pecans and melted butter in a bowl until combined. Press the mixture into a 9x13 (or an 11x7 would work too - the baking time may be a tad longer) and bake for 20 minutes until light brown. Once done, allow to cool completely. This is the crust.
In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese and powdered sugar with a hand mixer. Once combined, then add 1 cup of cool whip, reserving the rest for later.
Take the cooled crust and spread the cream cheese mixture over top. Next, take the chocolate and vanilla pudding mixture and spread that over top the cream cheese to make a second layer.
The next layer is the reserved cool whip. Spread evenly over the chocolate layer and top with chopped nuts and chocolate shavings.
Allow to chill for 1-2 hours before serving.