Cool and Creamy Pineapple Paradise Dessert

PSU Lioness's Note:

I made this for the first time over Memorial Day weekend since my husband was having a craving for pineapple. I took a few other recipes, changed them up and combined them to come up with this one. My husband loved it! The crust seemed dry after I baked it but when the pudding mixture sat in it overnight, it got soft and delicious. Use low-fat or nonfat ingredients to get a delicious dessert without all the guilt! You can also add other fruit to switch it up a little. I think next time I'll add mandarin oranges and cherries along with the pineapple. (Plan ahead because this needs at least 1 hour to chill but I wasn't sure exactly how to input that into the total cook time. It took about a half hour to prepare with 1 hour chill time.) (The pictures are of the dessert before I added the whipped topping)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 12 whole low-fat graham crackers (it works out to about half a box)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 32 ounces plain nonfat yogurt
• 1 (1 1/2 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding (unprepared)
• 2 (20 ounce) cans pineapple chunks in juice, drained
• 1 (12 ounce) container light whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip makes Lite)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Put the graham crackers into a food processor and pulse until they are reduced to fine crumbs (or use 2 1/2 c premade graham cracker crumbs but I couldn't find a low-fat variety).
3. Add the sugar and melted butter to the crumbs. Pulse until everything is combined, taking care to scrape the sides often so it all gets mixed together.
4. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13" glass baking dish.
5. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack until you are able to touch the dish (about 10-15 minutes). You can also shut the oven off now.
7. In a large bowl, mix the yogurt and pudding. You can use a hand mixer if necessary.
8. Pour the pudding mix into the graham cracker crust and spread evenly.
9. Top the pudding with the pineapple chunks.
10. Top the pineapple chunks with the thawed Cool Whip topping.
11. Cover and allow to chill in refrigerator until serving, at least 1 hour.