Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas! We are here in sunny Florida spending the holidays with John’s family and soaking up the sunshine. Yesterday was John’s birthday, and since birthday boy loves pineapple as one of his favorite fruits I decided to make this spectacular dessert. It has a yummy graham cracker crust with a luscious cream cheese and pineapple filling, topped with Cool Whip and fresh pineapple. Oh, my! Was it ever wonderful.  All our relatives thought it was fantastic and one I should make over and over again.

I reblogged this recipe last August from Happy Hodgepodge Home knowing that with all the pineapple in it, my husband would probably really love this recipe. I was right. It was fantastic and fairly easy to make. The only difficulty I had with this recipe was getting it to set up. It took about 30 minutes in the refrigerator PLUS about 2 hours in the freezer before it set up enough to put the cream cheese/pineapple layer in the dish. But overall, it was really easy and well worth the effort. My guests devoured it down to the last crumb!

If you are looking for an amazing dessert for company, holiday entertaining, or family members who enjoy pineapple and cheesecake-type desserts, this recipe is for you! The thick, rich, delectable cream cheese and pineapple filling is marvelous. Our family loved this delicious recipe. I think you will too.

Here’s a look at this spectacular Pineapple Cream Cheese Dessert

It serves up really nice.

This elegant dessert is great for holiday entertaining or any other time of the year.

This dessert cuts easy into nice, beautiful squares.

Here’s what I did.

Melt butter.

Add graham cracker crumbs.

Stir butter and bread crumbs together. This is what that looks like.

Spray a glass 9×13″ baking dish with cooking spray.

Press graham cracker mixture into bottom of glass baking dish and press down well with the back of a spoon or a fork.

You will need 3 envelopes of unflavored gelatin.

Place sugar in mixing bowl. Add unflavored gelatin.

Stir mixture together.

Here the dry gelatin and sugar have been stirred together.

Boil water.

Add sugar and dry gelatin mixture to boiling water and stir well to dissolve completely.

Here I’m stirring to dissolve the dry ingredients.

Drain crushed pineapple and squeeze out excess juice. Add to boiling water mixture.

Soften cream cheese.

Mix cream cheese with an electric mixer.

Add sugar/gelatin/pineapple mixture to cream cheese.

Whisk ingredients together. This will be very soupy and lumpy.

Here the ingredients have been stirred together. You can tell the mixture is thin.

I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and put this in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to see if it would set up.

I took the mixture out of the refrigerator after 30 minutes and it still hadn’t set up so I covered the bowl again and this time I put the mixture in the freezer.

I checked this mixture every 30 minutes. After an hour in the freezer the mixture STILL had not set up.

It took about 2 hours in the freezer before the mixture was thick enough to layer over the graham cracker crust. I whisked the ingredients together one last time before spreading the mixture over the crust.

Spread the thickened cream cheese mixture over top the graham cracker crust. It is still somewhat lumpy but it is thickened now.

Here’s another picture of the cream cheese mixture over top of the graham cracker crust. I let this set in the refrigerator about another hour before adding whipped topping.

Spread Cool Whip over top of cream cheese pineapple mixture that has set.

Here’s what the dessert looks like after the Cool Whip has been spread over top.

Because this was more of a birthday cake, I placed some extra fresh pineapple pieces on top of the Cool Whip. It was only afterwards that I realized I should have shaped the pineapple into letters that read “Happy Birthday John!” You can omit this step if you wish, but it was nice having the extra pineapple on top.

Here’s another look at this dessert. I made this 24 hours before serving.

Here’s a close up so you can see the texture of this luscious dessert.

Here’s a look at a serving of this delicious dessert.

My guests thought this dessert was scrumptious. I think you will too!

Lots of luscious pineapple in a cream cheese filling and fluffy Cool Whip make this a dessert to remember!

Your guests will love this spectacular dessert.

The nice thing about this dessert is it’s really easy to make.  You will have to allow for adequate time for the dessert to set up in the different stages, however.

Would you like to sample some of this yummy dessert?

This piece will get your salivary glands going.

Here’s the recipe.

PINEAPPLE CREAM CHEESE BARS

(Recipe adapted from HappyHodgepodgeHome) This is based on an old Hawaiian recipe.

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup melted butter

2 1/2 cups boiling water

1 cup sugar

3 envelopes plain gelatin

1 1/2 cups crushed pineapple, drained really well

2 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened

16-oz. cool whip

1 cup fresh pineapple for garnish

Mix graham cracker crumbs and melted butter together and press into a 9×13” glass baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Mix gelatin and sugar together. Dissolve gelatin and sugar in boiling water. Drain pineapple and press out excess juice. Add drained pineapple to boiling water mixture. Let the mixture cool about 30 minutes. Soften cream cheese, then cream the cream cheese with mixer. Add pineapple and gelatin mixture. It will look a little watery and lumpy. Place bowl in the freezer until it is just starting to set (don’t wait until it sets completely). This took 2 hours in the freezer before the mixture was thick enough but you should check every 30 minutes until it gets to this point. Remove from freezer and beat mixture with mixer. Pour mixture over crust and place back into refrigerator for about an hour. Remove from refrigerator and  spread the pineapple cream cheese layer with Cool Whip. Garnish with fresh pineapple in designs as desired. Refrigerate several hours or overnight. Slice and serve. Serves about 15-16.

Here’s another look at this amazing dessert.

Every incredible bite has lots of delicious pineapple and cream cheese.

Pineapple lover’s delight!

This is a wonderfully festive and elegant dessert to serve for holidays or special occasions. 

Yum, yum!

We have a little left over. Would you care for a piece of this decadent dessert?

So delectable, so scrumptious, so mouth watering! You and your family will surely drool over this tasty dessert.

Here’s the piece I saved for you!

An absolutely beautiful dessert in appearance and fabulous in taste and texture. You will love it!

You may also like these incredible desserts:

Black Forest Dream Dessert

Banana Split Dessert

Eclair Dessert

Strawberry Twinkie Dessert

Mississippi Mud Pie

Oreo Cookie Mud Pie

Strawberry Pretzel Salad/Dessert

Peanut Butter Pie

Related articles

• Wonderfully Decadent Chocolate Fruit Crepes with Cream Cheese Filling (simplysophisticatedcooking.wordpress.com)
• Diabetic Friendly Chocolate Mousse and Easy Pineapple Cheesecake (beatcancer2010.wordpress.com)
• Easy Cream Cheese Chiquita Banana Turnovers Recipe (chiquitabananas.com)
• Pineapple Cream Cheese Pie (foodbyflowers.wordpress.com)
• Three Torte Dessert (sal9kshaw.wordpress.com)
• Cheesecake Recipe and Its History (foodiefriendsfridaydailydish.com)