One of my absolute favorite lunch spots is Chasteen’s Downtown. Chasteen’s is a family owned local restaurant located just a block from my office. I usually meet my sister, Brie, and our good friend, Kyle, there for lunch once or twice a week.
Chasteen’s has a variety of delicious food. Everyday they serve salads, sandwiches, homemade soups, daily specials, and my favorite – homemade desserts. They have a different dessert everyday. Sometimes they’ll offer strawberry cake or peach cobbler or blueberry crumb bars or banana pudding, but my absolute favorite dessert at Chasteen’s is Chocolate Delight. Now, I was born and raised in the south and I’ve tried my fair share of chocolate delights, but they have the best. Unfortunately, they’re only open a few hours during lunch on weekdays, so if I get a weekend craving, I’m out of luck.
I decided to try my hand at recreating my favorite Chocolate Delight. After browsing a few recipes online, getting distracted, and looking at rugs on pinterest, I decided to just wing it. “Winging it” is how most of the food preparations happen in the Hancock house.
A few things I really like about Chasteen’s Chocolate Delight:
1. Super fluffy cream cheese layer
2. Pecans in crust
3. Chocolate chips on top

I knew I wanted these three elements in my at-home chocolate delight. Here’s what I used:
1 C Flour
1/2 C melted butter
1 C chopped pecans + more for topping
8 oz package of cream cheese
1 C powdered sugar
1 16 oz Coolwhip (from the freezer section)
1 splash on vanilla extract
2 boxes of instant chocolate pudding mix
3ish C of milk
1 C chocolate chips I started with the crust. I mixed chopped pecans, flour, and melted butter and pressed it into the bottom of a 9×13 dish. Then, I put my crust in the oven on 350 for about 25ish minutes. I got nervous when I took it out after 15 minutes, because it still looked like wet flour with nuts mixed in. I put it back in the over for an additional 10 minutes and it looked the same only slightly more golden. It ended up tasting great! Don’t alarmed! Next, I whipped the cream cheese, a splash of vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Then I folded in about a cup of the coolwhip. I spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled crust. Next, I moved on to the pudding layer. I mixed the pudding, milk and another cup of coolwhip and spread it over the cream cheese layer. For the top layer, I spread the rest of the coolwhip over the pudding. I sprinkled the chocolate chips and more chopped pecans on top! I refrigerated for a few hours and voila, chocolate delight!
Ray and I went to dinner at my parent’s house this past weekend and everyone enjoyed the chocolate delight. I wouldn’t say it was AS delicious as Chasteen’s chocolate delight, but it was pretty close!