Butterscotch Lush is a no bake dessert made with a graham cracker crust topped with layers of sweetened cream cheese and butterscotch pudding. Simple butterscotch dessert that is assembled in minutes!
We love no-bake desserts, especially in the summer when it’s too hot to turn on the oven. Nothing is better than a cold, refreshing treat on a hot summer day!
LUSH DESSERTS
Lush desserts are a really popular layered no bake dessert that come in endless flavor combinations. A typical lush dessert have a few things in common despite the final flavor. The majority of them have at least 4 basic layers:
- No Bake Cookie Crumb Crust
- Sweet whipped Cream Cheese layer
- Pudding layer
- Whipped cream topping on top!
Like I said, there are endless combinations to these basic layers! Lemon Lush and Chocolate Lush are very popular desserts. I absolutely love this butterscotch version though, especially with some crushed Butterfinger candy bars on top!
What is Butterscotch Lush?
Butterscotch Lush is a cold, refreshing, no bake dessert. The graham cracker crust is topped with a cream layer followed by a butterscotch pudding layer. Spread the other half of the Cool Whip on top and refrigerate for a few hours. Sprinkle some crushed Butterfinger candy bars on top just before serving!
Ingredients in Butterscotch Lush
CRUST
Graham cracker crumbs – You will need 3 cups of graham cracker crumbs for the crust. You can use pre-crushed graham cracker crumbs or you can easily make your own. You will need about 21 full graham crackers. The best way to get uniform crumbs that are fine enough is to crush them in the blender. I like to do about 6-7 graham crackers at a time. If you put too many graham crackers in the blender at once, it will be difficult for the blender to blend them all at once.
Butter – You will need 1 cup of butter. The butter needs to be melted and mixed with the graham cracker crust. For best results, use real butter.
Sugar – The recipe only calls for 1 tablespoon of sugar to help sweeten up the crust a little bit.
CREAM LAYER
Cream cheese – The cream cheese needs to be softened to room temperature before mixing with the other ingredients.
Powdered sugar – Adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the cream cheese layer.
Cool Whip topping – You will need a 12 ounce container of thawed Cool Whip. Divide the Cool Whip in half. Half of it will be mixed with the cream cheese for the bottom layer, and the other half will be spread on top.
BUTTERSCOTCH LAYER
Butterscotch instant pudding – You will need 2 small boxes of instant butterscotch pudding for the butterscotch layer of the dessert.
Milk – Any type of milk will work. The milk is mixed with the instant pudding mix to make the pudding layer.
How to make Butterscotch Lush
Crust: Mix the graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar together in a large bowl and then press into the bottom of a 9X13 pan.
Cream layer: Use an electric mixer to mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together until creamy and smooth. Fold in half of the Cool Whip. Gently spread the mixture over the crust.
Butterscotch Layer: Mix together pudding and milk until smooth and pour over cream cheese layer.
2nd Cream layer: Spread the other half of the Cool Whip on top of the pudding layer.
Refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving.
If desired, sprinkle some grated chocolate or crushed Butterfinger candy bars on top right before serving.
Butterscotch Lush
Ingredients
Crust:
- 3 cups graham cracker crumbs about 21 full graham crackers
- 1 cup melted butter
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Cream layer:
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 12 oz Cool Whip thawed (divided)
Butterscotch layer:
- 2 small boxes butterscotch instant pudding
- 3 ⅔ cup milk
Instructions
- Crust: Mix the graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar together in a large bowl and then press into the bottom of a 9X13 pan.
- Cream layer: Use an electric mixer to mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together until creamy and smooth. Fold in half of the Cool Whip. Gently spread the mixture over the crust.
- Butterscotch Layer: Mix together pudding and milk until smooth and pour over cream cheese layer.
- 2nd Cream layer: Spread the other half of the Cool Whip on top of the pudding layer.
- Refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving.
- If desired, sprinkle some grated chocolate or crushed Butterfinger candy bars on top right before serving.
Nutrition
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HOW LONG IS BUTTERSCOTCH LUSH GOOD FOR?
Lush desserts are good for about 3-4 days in the fridge if you keep them well covered. I don’t recommend letting them last any longer than that because the ingredients begin to separate. For this particular lush, I like to make it in advance, but wait to put the fresh strawberries on top until I get close to serving it. This way I can keep the strawberries fresher before adding to the dessert.
How many graham crackers to make 1 cup of crumbs?
It takes about 7 full graham cracker sheets to make about 1 cup of crumbs. You’ll need 3 cups of graham cracker crumbs for this recipe, so you will need 21 graham crackers. My favorite way to make graham cracker crumbs is in the blender – it only takes a few seconds and the crumbs are perfect!
WHAT KIND OF CREAM CHEESE TO USE IN LUSH DESSERTS?
I usually use regular cream cheese, but you can also use a low-fat or non-fat variety in lush desserts. Just make sure it is softened to room temperature before adding to the recipe.
HOW TO SOFTEN CREAM CHEESE
Cream cheese is easy to soften – you can set it out at room temperature or soften it more quickly in the microwave.
-To soften at room temperature more quickly, just set the cream cheese on a plate and cut into smaller pieces. The cream cheese should reach room temperature in about 15-20 minutes with this method.
-To soften the cream cheese in the microwave, remove the foil packaging and set the cream cheese in a small bowl or on a plate. Microwave for about 10-15 seconds. If the cream cheese is still cold and hard, continue to microwave for about 5 seconds at a time until the cream cheese is soft throughout. Just make sure not to microwave it too long or it will start to melt!
CAN YOU REPLACE THE COOL WHIP IN LUSH DESSERTS?
If you can’t find Cool Whip where you live or you prefer not to use it in recipes, you can use stabilized whipped cream instead. If you just use regular whipped cream, the consistency will be too light and the cream will not hold up very well when mixed into the cream cheese layer. It’s very simple to make your own stabilized whipped cream and it just takes a few minutes!
HOW TO MAKE STABILIZED WHIPPED CREAM
To make stabilized whipped cream, you will need the following ingredients:
- 6 ounces of cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream.
- Beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar and vanilla until soft and smooth.
- In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream just until soft peaks form.
- Add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
A little tip for making whipped cream faster. Use a metal bowl for whipping the cream and place the bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes before you make the whipped cream. This will significantly decrease the amount of time that you will need to beat the whipped cream – the process will go much faster!
OTHER NO BAKE DESSERTS TO TRY SOON!
- No Bake Peaches and Cream Bars
- Strawberry Cheesecake Lush
- No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
- No Bake Lemon Cheesecake
- No Bake Oreo Cake
- No Bake Mini Lemon Cheesecakes
- Reeses Krispie No Bake Cookies
- Birthday Cake Lush Dessert
- Double Layer No Bake Pumpkin Pie
- No Bake Cranberry Cheesecake
- No Bake Smores Bars
- No Bake Peaches and Cream Pie
- Easy No Bake Cheesecake
- No Bake Cherry Pie Lush
- No Bake Apple Bars
Butterscotch Lush is a no bake dessert made with a graham cracker crust topped with layers of sweetened cream cheese and butterscotch pudding. Simple butterscotch dessert that is assembled in minutes!
TwinMama says
I made this last night and went to eat this today after being in the fridge 24+ hrs and it’s mush. The pudding layer is water! So disappointed and so is my family 🙁
Jessica says
Definitely sounds like something didn’t go quite right…
Tim Fleury says
I have had the same issue as your previous comment. After reading about the issue of the instant pudding not setting, I decreased the amount of milk in my version. I used 2 and 1/3 cups milk for 2 small boxes of instant pudding, and my pudding did not set after an overnight refrigeration period. In my opinion, I believe this dessert will turn out if you make everything individually, per box instructions, and assemble right before serving.
Nellie says
Thanks for sharing Tim! I’m not sure why the pudding isn’t setting up. I’ve made this multiple times with the recipe as written and have never had a problem. But you can definitely make the pudding and let it set up in the refrigerator before assembling if that seems to work better.