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Delicious pistachio dessert has a crunchy shortbread cookie base for the perfect combination of crunchy, creamy, sweet + salty.
We love layered desserts, like this favorite pistachio dessert, especially for the holidays! It’s similar to our Lemon Lasagna which is also a must-try!
What’s Not To Love?!
If you love pistachio flavors and shortbread cookies, then this Pistachio Lush is the perfect dessert.
We’ve been making it since I was a little girl, and it’s always been a favorite!
Why we love it!
- Easy. It’s made in under 20 minutes and then just needs to chill!
- The flavors! There are so many delicious layers and textures, including a Shortbread Cookie crust, cream cheese layer, pudding layer and whipped cream!
- Enjoy it all year. It’s a cool treat, great for summer, but we love to enjoy this recipe all year long (it’s even great for Christmas with its green color).
This pistachio dessert mimics some of the flavors of a Watergate Salad (which uses pistachio instant pudding mix, canned pineapple, mini marshmallows, nuts, and whipped topping) – but trust us – it’s better!
Ingredients
- shortbread cookies – about 21 cookies. We use Keebler Sandies, but any shortbread cookie should work. Golden Oreos, pistachio cookies, or even crushed graham crackers work well too.
- butter
- instant pistachio pudding mix – use INSTANT pistachio pudding mix. Do not make it into a pudding, you will just be using the powder in this recipe.
- whole milk – it creates a creamy pudding mixture. We recommend a whole milk or at least 2% milk for this recipe.
- cream cheese – softened
- powdered sugar
- whipped topping – or Cool Whip
- Topping – We like mini M&Ms or chopped pecans, but toasted coconut, chopped pistachio nuts, festive sprinkles or even white chocolate curls.
A Quick Prep Dessert!
- PREP. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- CRUST. Smash shortbread cookies in a Ziploc bag, until fine. For extra-fine crumbs, you can crush cookies in a food processor.
- Add melted butter to Ziploc bag with crushed cookies and mix around until coated. Press crumbs into a 9×13 pan.
- BAKE. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes in the oven until golden. Let cool.
- CREAM CHEESE. In a medium bowl, smooth together cream cheese, sugar and 2 cups of your cool whip (or whipped cream). Pour an even layer over cooled crust.
- PUDDING. Mix the milk and pudding mix together until thickened up. Pour the pistachio pudding layer over the cream cheese layer.
- CHILL. Spread your remaining Cool Whip over the top and refrigerate. Top with crushed pecans if desired.
Pro Tips!
- Refrigerate the pistachio layered dessert as you are making the next layer to help each layer set before adding on the next.
- If the crust seems too dry and crumbly, add 1-2 more tablespoons of butter.
Storing Info
- Make ahead of time. Don’t make this easy pistachio pudding dessert recipe more than 24 hours in advance, just so it’s fresh.
- Wait to add sprinkles or candies on top until right before serving, so they don’t discolor the whipped cream. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until serving time.
- STORE leftovers covered in the fridge for 2-3 days. I do not recommend freezing the dessert as the taste and texture will be negatively affected.
For More LAyered Desserts:
Lemon Lasagna
1 hr 10 mins
Oreo Peanut Butter Delight
20 mins
Brownie Delight
40 mins
7 Layer Bars Recipe
35 mins
Pistachio Dessert Recipe
Delicious pistachio dessert has a crunchy shortbread cookie base for the perfect combination of crunchy, creamy, sweet + salty.
Ingredients
- 1 (11.2-ounce) package shortbread cookies, (about 21 cookies)
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 (3.4-ounce) packages insatnt pistachio pudding mix
- 2¾ cup whole milk
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 4 cups whipped topping, divided (or 16 oz Cool Whip container)
- Topping: M&Ms or ¼ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Smash shortbread cookies in a Ziploc bag, until fine. For extra-fine crumbs, you can crush cookies in a food processor.
- Add melted butter to Ziploc bag with crushed cookies and mix around until coated. Press crumbs into a 9×13 pan.
- Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes in the oven until golden. Let cool.
- Smooth together cream cheese, sugar, and 2 cups of your cool whip (or whipped cream). Pour an even layer over crushed cookie crust.
- Mix the milk and pudding mix together until thickened up. Pour over the cream cheese layer.
- Spread your remaining whipped topping over the top and refrigerate. Top with crushed pecans if desired.
Video
Notes
- Make ahead of time. Don’t make this easy pistachio pudding dessert recipe more than 24 hours in advance, just so it’s fresh.
- Wait to add sprinkles or candies on top until right before serving, so they don’t discolor the whipped cream. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until serving time.
- STORE leftovers covered in the fridge for 2-3 days. I do not recommend freezing the dessert as the taste and texture will be negatively affected
Nutrition
Calories: 285kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 27mg, Sodium: 174mg, Potassium: 127mg, Fiber: 0.3g, Sugar: 20g, Vitamin A: 379IU, Calcium: 87mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Easy to follow. Easy to read and put togethet
Can you use whipping (heavy) cream in place of whole milk?
I thought the richness and texture would be great in this dessert.
Yes you could!! I haven’t tried it, so you’ll have to let us know how it turns out!
Very Yummy! Was a hit at our Christmas dinner! thanks for sharing
This is a wonderful recipe! So simple and quick to make, and it tastes so delicious! My husband loved it ♥️ I used pecan sandies for the crust and also for the topping… perfect!
I love just about anything pistachio and this was simple and did not disappoint! Thank you for yet another delicious recipe!
This is a wonderful version! One of my loves favorites. The cookie base is great, I add a couple teaspoonfuls of sugar. I also use 3 packages of pistachio pudding Ad︊ a total of 2 3/4 cups of milk to it’s pretty firm.
I am planning on making this!
Hope you enjoy!
Have you used freshly whipped heavy cream, lightly sweetened, in place of the cool whip?
I typically use cool whip, mostly for sake of time, but fresh whipped cream would be delicious too! You could certainly swap for that!
Great take on pistachio dessert. The cream cheese layer knocked it out of the ball park!
can this dessert be frozen?
can you freeze this
Love this recipe for Christmas! I sometimes just sprinkle a couple of the shortbread cookies over the top if I don’t want to buy extra toppings.
That’s a great idea!!
This dessert is easy, delicious and pretty! I love making this when we have dinner guests.
This is one of my family’s favorite desserts! I think the secret to it’s success is the shortbread crust.
I love all things pistachio and this dessert is no exception! Soooo yummy!
Layered desserts are so cool and creamy. The green is so fun too… perfect for Christmas or St. Patty’s Day too!
I’m a big fan of pistachios…especially pistachio-flavored desserts. This one is easy and really tasty!
Your recipe calls for 16oz of whipped topping divided to be used for two different layers but you say the second layer with the cream cheese and powdered sugar needs 2 cups of cool whip…. 2 cups is 16oz so how do we have left over for the top layer?
So a serving size for a 16 oz tub of Cool Whip is 2 Tbsp. There are about 50 servings in that tub. Which would be about 100 Tbsp. 1 cup = 16 Tbsp, so that full 16 oz tub should yield about 6.25 cups of Cool Whip, which should be enough wiggle room for the cream cheese layer and for the top. 🙂 We haven’t had any troubles with not having enough when using the 16 oz tub. Hope you enjoy the recipe!!
This is refreshing and festive! It gives you a break from overly sweet Christmas cookies and fudge!
I’m a pistachio fan and this has Fun flavors for a Christmas dessert and it’s green!
Great Christmas dessert. Old time favorite for us.. It’s festive and yummy.
I like to make a flour, sugar, chopped nuts and butter for my base and bake it and cool it. I use cream cheese, powdered sugar and cool whip for the next layer. Next layer the pistachio pudding using 2 boxes and 3 cups of milk as next layer. Final layer of cool whip. Sprinkle with color candies before serving.
Me too. Never used anything but chocolate pudding but may give this a try. Looks so pretty!
One of my very favorite desserts!!!
This is absolutely divine! We love all the incredible layers! It’s so versatile too, for various holidays. We just switch out the candy on top!
I love this dessert! It’s so refreshing💚❤️
My Grandma used to make this and am so glad I finally got the recipe!! Yum
A favorite dessert in our family. So festive for the holidays!
Thank goodness 😅
Delicious and so easy! I love pistachio.
How delightful and so super fun! I know exactly who I need to make this delicious dessert for! I have a friend whose favorite flavor is pistachio. She is going to LOVE this!
Absolutely fantastic! The flavor and texture were perfect.
This is my family’s favorite Christmas dessert! My in-laws request it every year!
Instead of the candy on top I put pieces of Pistachio on it.. It was awesome! My hubs loved it. Thank-you ?
Perfect! Glad he loved it! Thank you!
I think it is very sweet and you can leave out the powdered duger.
I added an EXTRA tablesPoon of butter to help the crumbs hold together before baking. I also drop the cream cheese layer gently over the crust in small piles and spread carefully. I then chilled for awhile before pouring over the pudding layer. Chill the pudding layer as well before the final layer of cool whip. This keeps the layers intact for a better looking dessert.
Thank you for sharing what you did 🙂 Sounds great!
I made this for christmas last year and got tons of compliments. My mother-in-law even asked for the recipe, and she turned around and made it for a church dinner.
I am so happy to hear that!! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe 🙂 I am glad it was a hit!
if you dont have shortbread cookies is it ok to use graham crackers instead?
Of course!! You could do your favorite crust 🙂 Hope that helps! Thank you!
The second layer of cool whip is just plain cool whip?
Can I use real whipped cream instead of cool whip?
We make this recipe all the time but our crust is different instead of cookies we use flour butter and chopped nuts. It’s my favorite dessert!!!!
We make our own shortbread for the crust for this type of dessert too. We also make several different flavor variations using the same method.
These receipes look so yummy and easy, cant wait to try them.
could skim milk be used? I never buy whole milk. Making this for Xmas eve. Thanks!
Skim milk can be used but it won’t look as creamy. 😉
I’m excited to make these! My hubby went and got the ingredients for me, but couldn’t find a 13oz package keebler Sandie’s cookies, the package is 11.2 oz. He bought two packages… Should I use some from the other package to equal 13 oz? I just don’t want the crust to not turn out. Thanks!
I would definitely use some from the other package, but it’s up to you how much. If you want more of a crust I would add half of the other package and then add 1-2 more TB of butter. 😉
Making today yum
So I learned my lesson. Print the recipe out before you make it. I was so excited to make it because my mom use to make it and I would devour it. So I ran to the store and grabbed the ingredients, what I thought were the ingredients. I was looking at my phone. When I got home and started to make it I discovered I needed 2 pudding boxes and my whipped cream topping was frozen. It was too late to go back so I had to wait to the next day. Then I realized I forgot to put in the powdered sugar. Then when I wwnt to go make the second box of pudding I added the 2 cups of milk and it turned to soup. I also needed more whipped topping than a whole tub for the top. It turned out fine but I’m going to make it again sometime in a smaller dish. Ill be keeping this and your other recipes. Glad I found this on Pinterest!
So sorry you had some problems with this! Glad it still tasted yummy. 🙂
looks yummy. If I want to serve this Christmas Eve, how far in advance can I make this.
Personally, I never make a recipe more than 24 hours in advance just so it’s fresh. Also, I would definitely wait to add sprinkles or candies on top until right before serving so they don’t discolor the cool whip on top. 😉
Do you use store bought Shortbread cookies? Like Keebler? Or shortbread cookie dough?
Yes, we use Keebler Shortbread cookies. 🙂
TOTAL FAIL. 2 3/4 cups of milk for the pudding????? I’m now stuck with half a recipe that’s turned to crap because the pudding is SOUP. You don’t do 2 cups of milk for the regular pudding. So much for following a blog recipe. Have you ever even made this before? or just mistype your Mother-in-laws recipe?
Thanks but no thanks.
I’m sorry, but you are wrong. ONE box of pudding calls for 2 cups of milk. This recipe calls for 2 boxes of pudding, so 2 3/4 cup of milk is LESS than what the pudding would usually call for. You mix the milk and pudding until it thickens up, which takes a few minutes, and then pour it over the cream cheese layer. You must not have followed the direction properly.
I want to apologize in public. It was my fault. I most definitely did read it wrong. Since I live 25 minutes from a grocery store, running and grabbing another box isn’t an option, so I folded in some extra whipped cream. It still turned out yummy. I apologize for my rant, I don’t mind admitting when I’m most definitely in the wrong. 😀 If you want to delete my comment please do so, but if only for you. I made myself look like an idiot and what happens on the internet, stays on the internet. 😉 Good luck to you! It was a yummy dessert after all!
What kind of short bread cookies is everyone using? I don’t know what to buy. Please don’t reply any brand will do please give me some examples. Thanks
Keebler sandies simply shortbread cookies & I used 6TBS of melted butter & baked my crust for 15 minutes comes out great!
We also use the Keebler Sandies. 😉
I always wanted to have a kitchen aid mixer but couldn’t afford one.I would love to see how good it works
I’m excited to try this. I found you from the Crazy for Christmas Pinterest Party! Looks fabulous!
Hope you like it. It’s a favorite of ours. 😉
make one like this with red jello
Do you think the recipe will work if I use skim milk?
Skim milk will work, but that pudding layer will look less creamy.
Tried to make this but I was wondering if the measurements are right for the shortbread crust. Followed exactly what it called for, but the crust did not bake together and I was left with crumbs. When I tried to smooth on the cream cheese layer, the crumbs ended up completely mixed in with this layer. I’m sure it will still be yummy, but it definitely doesn’t have a nice crust.
The exact same thing happened to me… Totally bummed it didn’t work and now I have to come up with a back up dessert pronto!
Yummy!! I love pistachios. Thanks for the great recipe!!
You’re welcome, Crystal!! We love pistachios too. 🙂
This looks delicious! So festive too! Perfect for Christmas!
Totally agree – yummy and festive = perfect for Christmas!! 😀
That looks so good. I’m excited to try it!!
xoxo
Thanks, Jen!! If you love pistachio and shortbread you’ll definitely LOVE this recipe. 🙂
Oh these look soooo good!!! The Frosted Holiday Mint M&M Brownies as well!! Def wanna try these when I visit my grandma’s again cause she’s the one with the oven lol. thanks for sharing your recipes!!
You’re welcome!! Let me know if you give them a try. 🙂 Merry Christmas!!
I love love love love pistachios and shortbread. This sounds DREAMY. Can’t wait to make it!! Lorin’s got great taste!
LOL. He likes to think so too. 😉 Thx for stopping by, Miq! XO