Sweetnin' Saturday

The end of daylight savings time and the subsequent long dark evenings seem like a good time to revisit my blog.
It's been one busy eventful summer, but I'll get back to that a little later.
Right now, lets talk dessert.
Where I come from, Saturdays were designated as the day when country women did their baking. Many of them adhered to a weekly schedule to organize their chores.  
I don't remember which chore was designated for every day of the week, but I do remember Monday for laundry and Saturday for baking.
Sunday was a day of rest, but it was also the day company came.  Maybe that's why dessert was prepared on Saturday.  Or maybe it was to be one step ahead of the game when preparing Sunday dinner.
Because National Blog Posting Month began today, and because this dessert is sort of fall-ish, I'm going to share the recipe for this decadent concoction.
It's the sort of recipe country cooks take to church potlucks and funeral dinners, and everyone swoons over and wants the recipe.
It  came across my Pinterest feed, I think, but I found it on "a blog by Chef in Training."
Here's the recipe for Pralines and Cream Dream dessert.  Click on the link if you'd like to see for yourself how yummy it looks.

INGREDIENTS:

Crust

• 1 (11.3 oz.) box of crushed Sandies pecan cookies

• ¼ cup melted butter

Cream Cheese filling

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

• 8 oz. cool whip, thawed

• ¼ cup powdered sugar

Pudding

• 2 small boxes INSTANT butterscotch pudding, dry not prepared and NOT cook n' serve

• 3½ cup milk

Topping

• 12 oz. cool whip

Sugared pecans

• 1 cup chopped pecans

• ½ cup sugar

Remaining Ingredients

• ¼ cup Caramel ice cream topping

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. In a 9x13 baking dish combine cookies and melted butter to form crust layer. Press down evenly over bottom of pan and bake for 12 min. Set aside to cool.

1. In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and cool whip until smooth and well combined. Set aside in fridge until ready to assemble.

1. In small mixing bowl mix pudding packets and milk and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

1. In a medium size skillet over medium heat, combine pecans and sugar. Stir until sugar is melted. Pour them out onto to a piece of parchment paper to cool.

To assemble

1. Spread cream cheese mixture over cooled crust.

1. Next gently spoon pudding over the cream cheese mixture.

1. Then top with the cool whip.

1. Sprinkle the cooled sugared pecans over the top.

1. Drizzle caramel sauce over the nuts and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.