½cupchopped Heath bars(or chopped pecans or chopped pistachios)
Instructions
Take the ice cream out of the freezer to let it soften while you make the crust.
Use a food processor to pulse 50 Ritz crackers until fine crumbs form. You could also place them in a resealable freezer bag and pound them with a rolling pin.
In a large bowl, mix together the RITZ crackers crumbs and ½ cup butter. Pat into a 13x9-inch pan and freeze.
In a large bowl, whisk together 2 boxes (3 oz each) instant pistachio pudding mix and 1½ cups milk. Fold in 1 quart vanilla ice cream (softened), then fold in 1 cup of the Cool Whip. Freeze for one hour.
Top with the remaining Cool Whip and garnish with ½ cup chopped Heath bars, pecans, or pistachios.
Freeze for at least 4 hours, or until ready to serve.
Notes
One spiral-bound cookbook recipe that I found for this dessert called for putting it in the refrigerator instead of the freezer (even though it has ice cream in it). I tried that and it worked just fine! It's was fluffier and creamier that way. I did prefer the frozen version though. Make ahead instructions: you can make this 1–2 days ahead of time and store in the freezer (covered) until you're ready to serve it. Be sure it take it out of the freezer 20–30 minutes before cutting it so it's not too hard to slice.One recipe I found said to put a maraschino cherry on top of each slice of the dessert. I think that would be really pretty.