The Prize-Winning 70s Dessert That Deserves a Comeback

You know the saying: ”What’s old is new again.” That’s how it feels every few months when a retro dessert starts gaining traction on social media. But forget about Watergate Salad and Ice Cream Bread because I’d like to nominate another dessert that totally deserves a comeback. It’s made with delicious ingredients like pudding, cream cheese, and chopped nuts, and when I saw the enthusiastic reviews on this family’s cherished dessert, I knew it was going on my must-try list. Meet Texas Delight.

What Is Texas Delight?

Texas Delight is a layered dessert that, according to recipe creator Nixiechick, “is not your ordinary pudding dessert,” and “well worth your efforts.” With a simple ingredients list of flour, pecans, butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, milk, frozen whipped topping, and instant pudding, I knew that if the hype was real, Texas Delight would be a new go-to recipe to keep on file for entertaining and potlucks.

“You’ve never had a pudding dessert this good,” Nixiechick wrote of their recipe. “It is elegant and delicious. Everyone will want the recipe.”

How to Make Texas Delight

To make Texas Delight at home, I started by making the crust layer. I combined flour, melted butter, and chopped pecans, then smoothed the mixture into a thin layer in the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan and baked it. While it cooled, I went to work on the second layer, a mixture of thawed frozen whipped topping, confectioners’ sugar, and softened cream cheese. Then, spread the cream cheese layer on the crust and let the pan hang out in my refrigerator while I made the next layer.

The third and final layer of this sweet treat is, according to the original recipe, made with instant coconut cream pudding. I wasn’t able to find instant coconut cream pudding at any of my local grocery stores and, after noticing it was for sale at a hefty price on Amazon, found a Reddit thread confirming the product has been discontinued by Jell-O. I used vanilla pudding instead, and found in reviews on the recipe that home cooks have used everything from chocolate-flavored pudding to the seasonal pumpkin spice variety to make the dessert.

For this third layer, I combined milk and instant pudding mix, then spread this mixture over the existing layers. A few hours later, once everything had set up, I added more thawed frozen whipped topping and chopped pecans to the top and served the dessert.

My Review of Texas Delight

This pudding-based treat truly is a delight. Not only does the cream cheese-and-powdered sugar layer provide the perfect sweet, tangy flavor, but the pudding tastes extra decadent and the chopped pecans offer the perfect crunch on top. It was a dessert my family could not stop eating—even my teenagers, who aren’t big on retro-style desserts like pudding and Jell-O salads.

Reviewers of the dessert sing its praises, too. “I made this recently for a party and before the evening was over, three folks asked for the recipe,” said one Allrecipes community member. “It is scrumptious and easy to make.”

“My mom made this but used lemon pudding,” said another. “When I made it for the Iowa State Fair many years ago it won second place.”

Another said, “This is an excellent recipe; our family has been making it since the early 1970s. [It] has been a family favorite for nearly 40 years.”

After trying this prize-winning dessert myself, I’ll definitely be making it again. And, I can see why it’s beloved by so many Allrecipes home cooks who’ve made it in their own kitchens. Next time I make Texas Delight, I may try that award-winning lemon variety, as I bet it’d be delicious with the tart cream cheese layer.