SRC – No Bake Eggnog Pudding Pie from I am a Honey Bee

I’m gonna be honest with you guys – I totally messed up this pie, in three different steps. Ugh. More on that later. But as it turns out, it didn’t even matter – it still came out super delicious!  So I definitely call that a win.

We are doing a special Holiday Treats edition of the Secret Recipe Club!  My assigned blog was I am a Honey Bee written by Nicole.  We both live on the East coast and share a love of Buffy, tattoos, Greece, eggs bene, and a fear of open water and having to open gifts in front of others.  I like that her blog includes reviews in addition to recipes, just like mine!

Anyway, I went to look for desserts on her blog and noticed a page called The Year of Pies, where she posted a pie recipes every week for a year.  A year!  I didn’t to look at any other category, ladies and gentlemen, I was home.  But would it be caramel pie? One of four different kinds of chess pie?  Maybe Reese’s or Thin Mint pie?  So many to choose from!  It was around this time that I began to feel woefully inadequate for my own dessert selection, and sorry for whoever drew my blog…  I hope you were able to find something!

I scrolled down to the end of the year to look for holiday dessert and saw this No Bake Eggnog Pudding Pie.  I love eggnog!  And easy recipes!  I wanted to make this right away.

Start with a simple graham cracker crust.  I hate having to break up a ton of cookies, so I buy the graham cracker crumbs in the baking aisle.  It saves me so much time/sanity.

To make the filling – beat cream cheese, then add in vanilla pudding mix and eggnog.  Here is where I made some mistakes.  I think that I should have used the whisk instead of the paddle to get really fluffy and smooth cream cheese.  I also think that I should have mixed the pudding mix into the cream cheese before adding the eggnog.

I believe that those two mistakes are why my mixture was so lumpy.  And here is where I made my third mistake – I tasted the eggnog and thought that the brand I got was pretty bland.  So I decided to add in some cinnamon and nutmeg which, sadly, changed the flavor to more of a pumpkin spice.

I was determined to carry on, so I folded in the cool whip and spooned the mixture into the crust, lamenting the lumpiness.  After chilling and slicing into it, though?  It didn’t feel lumpy at all!  And it was maybe a little cinnamon heavy, but delicious!  I took it over to a get together with girlfriends and they agreed!  So not only is this recipe delicious, it is pretty much idiot-proof. Yay!

No Bake Eggnog Pudding Pie
adapted from I am a Honey Bee

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted
pinch of salt
8oz of cream cheese, at room temperature
2 3.5oz boxes of instant vanilla pudding
3 cups eggnog
1 8oz container of Cool Whip, softened at room temperature

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, butter, and salt in a bowl.  Pour the crumbs into the deep dish pie plate, press into the bottom and up the sides.  Chill for 30 minutes.

Beat the cream cheese with the whisk attachment of a stand mixer until smooth and fluffy.  Add the instant pudding and beat until smooth and combined.

Slowly beat the mixture while gradually pouring in the eggnog.  Scrape down the sides as needed.

Gently fold in the Cool Whip with a rubber spatula until the filling mixture is well blended.

Pour the filling mixture into the chilled crust.  Return to the refrigerator for at least an hour prior to serving.  Keep chilled for up to 3 days.

One Year Ago – Roasted Autumn Vegetable Pot Pies
Two Years Ago – Cheesy Baked Pumpkin Shells
Three Years Ago – Rainbow Booze Party
Four Years Ago – Panko Crusted Salmon