Tropical Piña Colada Dessert Recipe

With 250,000 Facebook fans, you’d think it would be hard for any one person to stand out, but that’s simply not the case when it comes to our ‘Super Fan’ Alex Epps. Always with a wonderful anecdote, recipe enhancing ideas or encouraging words, we’ve grown so accustomed to seeing Alex’s comments that it just wouldn’t be Facebook without her!

We recently discovered Alex’s favorite dessert recipe to make is her Tropical Piña Colada Dessert. As a tribute to Alex, we developed our own No-Bake Piña Colada Pie. Thank you for being such a Super Fan!

Each recipe is refreshing and delicious in its own way. Here’s Alex’s recipe so you can give hers a try as well. Do you have a version of this dessert idea?

Tropical Piña Colada Dessert Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cups pecans, walnuts or almonds….chopped fine…use which ever nut you have. I like pecans the best but almonds make it more fancy. J
1 cup sweet butter…or…”heart healthy margarine”…melted
8 oz nonfat or low fat cream cheese…room temp.
1 cup powdered sugar
1 med. can of crushed pineapple, drain very well and juice reserved
4 cup nonfat or low fat Cool Whip…thawed
2 small packs of Jello instant coconut pudding
3 cups very cold non fat or low fat milk
1 1/2 cups of coconut flakes, divided

Toast 3/4 cup of coconut flakes in a dry, non-stick pan to a light golden brown and fragrant, take off the heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish lightly with cooking spray

Combine butter, chopped nuts and flour in a med. size bowl, work into a dough, using your fingers. It should hold together when pinched. If it is too dry, add a little more butter, if it is too wet, add a bit more flour. Press into the bottom of the baking dish in an even layer. Bake for about 15-20 min, until lightly browned and done. Remove to wire rack and let cool completely.

Using an electric hand mixer, on med. speed, whip the cream cheese and pineapple juice, starting with 1 Tbsp of the juice. You want the cream cheese to be light, creamy and fluffy, add more juice [1 Tbsp at a time] if needed. The amount of juice used depends on the brand of cream cheese and also if it is non or low or reg. fat. It should be like a “thicker” marshmallow fluff.

Add the powdered sugar and beat [on low] until incorporated, fold in 1c of cool whip. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled crust evenly, top it with an even layer of crushed pineapple and place into the fridge.

Pour instant pudding mix into a good size bowl, slowly whisk in the cold milk. Whisk, by hand, until you feel that the mixture is thickening. Fold in the remaining coconut [untoasted]. Pour the pudding mixture over the pineapple layer and spread out evenly. If you do not serve the dessert right away, cover and chill until needed. Just before serving, cover the entire surface evenly with Cool Whip, spread to the edges and sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes. Cut into squares and serve.

Option: For the “Piña Colada we are on vacation” look, add 1 maraschino cherry and a little paper umbrella to each square, before serving.