Mixed berry pudding is made with whipped vanilla filling, an abundance of fresh berries and layered with wafer cookies that soak into the creamy filling and soften to the perfect texture!
Why I love this fresh berry pudding dessert:
I don’t know about you, but I love banana pudding! This mixed berry pudding is a spin on that (without the bananas obviously) and with a few less steps!
Although the name has ‘pudding’ in it, this recipe doesn’t actually call for pudding- instead, this dessert is made with a creamy filling made from cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla to make things super easy!
Ingredients you’ll need:
- Fresh berries: Strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.
- Granulated sugar: Divided.
- Lemon juice
- Cream cheese: softened to room temperature.
- Heavy whipping cream
- Vanilla extract Nilla Wafers: shortbread cookies, Biscoff cookies or graham crackers can be substituted.
What are Nilla Wafers?
Nilla Wafers are vanilla flavored wafer style cookies. They’re light, crisp and practically melt in your mouth! If you can’t find them near you, shortbread cookies, Biscoff cookies and graham crackers can be substituted.
No bake desserts are one of my favorite things to make! They’re simple to assemble, can (almost) always be made in advance and require little to no equipment. I swear the hardest part is being patient enough for the pudding to chill in the fridge!
How to make the best mixed berry pudding:
- Macerate the berries: Slice your strawberries into bite-sized pieces, then add them to a large mixing bowl along with the washed blueberries and raspberries. Add ¼ cup sugar and the juice of ½ a lemon. Stir to combine, then leave them to sit for 30 minutes to release their juices.
- Make the cream filling: In the meantime, make the cream filling. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or mixing bowl with an electric mixer) combine softened cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla extract. Whip the mixture until it’s thickened and resembles whipped cream.
- Assemble: In a 9-inch pie plate (or 9×9 baking pan), start layering the dessert. Begin with a layer of the cream filling, then a layer of Nilla Wafers, followed by a layer of the macerated berries. Repeat this process one more time. Finish with one last layer of the cream mixture, then top with crumbled Nilla Wafers and whatever macerated berries you have remaining.
- Chill: Loosely cover the dish with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before enjoying.
My favorite way to enjoy this dessert is to serve it up in a casual casserole style baking dish or pie plate but you can make it more elegant by serving in individual cups too!
My top tips:
- Macerate the berries: it’s important to let the berries sit in sugar and lemon juice to let them soften and release some of their juices prior to assembling the dessert.
- Let your cream cheese soften: You’ll only want to use room temperature cream cheese in this recipe so that it whips easily and doesn’t become lumpy in the filling.
- Whip the creamy filling to stiff peaks: Whipping the filling to stiff peaks is important for this dessert to hold its structure when serving. You’ll know the mixture has reached stiff peaks when it resembles whipped cream rather than a liquid consistency.
- Even layering: When assembling the dessert- try to keep each layer even so that each serving gets an equal amount of filling, berries, and vanilla cookie.
- Fully chill through: Once you’re done assembling the pudding, it should already be thickened and hold its structure upon chilling- but setting it in the fridge for a few hours will allow it to set a little further as well as soften the wafer cookies as they soak into the pudding.
FAQ:
For this recipe I would only use fresh berries. If you use frozen there’s just too much extra liquid and the texture won’t be quite right once the berries are thawed out.
There are tons of substitutes for Nilla Wafers. You can try shortbread cookies, Biscoff cookies or graham crackers.
Can this recipe be made ahead of time?
By placing leftovers in a sealed plastic container in the fridge, it will keep for up to 4 days!
Looking for more berry desserts? Try these!
- https://dangthatssweet.com/blueberry-lemon-upside-down-cake/
- https://dangthatssweet.com/strawberry-poke-cake/
- https://dangthatssweet.com/cornflake-berry-crisp/
- https://dangthatssweet.com/mini-strawberry-cheesecakes/
- https://dangthatssweet.com/strawberry-shortcake-cake/
Mixed Berry Pudding
Equipment
- 9 inch pie plate or 9×9 baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 lb strawberries sliced
- 6 oz blueberries
- 6 oz raspberries
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar divided
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 box Nilla Wafers (you may not use them all)
Instructions
- Slice your strawberries into bite-sized pieces, then add them to a large mixing bowl along with the washed blueberries and raspberries. Add ¼ cup sugar and the juice of ½ a lemon. Stir to combine, then leave them to sit for 30 minutes to release their juices.
- In the meantime, make the cream filling. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or mixing bowl with an electric mixer) combine softened cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla extract. Whip the mixture until it’s thickened and resembles whipped cream.
- In a 9-inch pie plate (or 9×9 baking pan), start layering the dessert. Begin with a layer of the cream filling, then a layer of Nilla Wafers, followed by a layer of the macerated berries. Repeat this process one more time. Finish with one last layer of the cream mixture, then top with a few crumbled Nilla Wafers and whatever macerated berries you have remaining.
- Loosely cover the dish with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before enjoying.
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