Wimpy’s Weakness: Pistachio Pudding Dessert Bars Recipe

Updated September 28, 2026, Originally Published October 13, 2022. 2 min read

Today I am sharing Wimpy’s Weakness – a pistachio pudding pie kind of dessert bar recipe that was one of my grandmother’s absolute favorites.

When my mom and I were going through her old cookbook collection, with many cookbooks that once belonged to my grandma, we found stuffed in one of the cookbooks maybe 20-30 copies of Wimpy’s Weakness, all typed up! My grandmother made these copies before xerox machines were really common, so this means she hand typed each one!

Wimpy’s Weakness Recipe Notes

One thing that is important to note is this recipe calls to use 3 cups of milk to make the pudding and not the usual 4 you would need to make 2 boxes of instant pudding.

Instant pudding is also very important here – you don’t want to get the cooked kind! (I’m not sure if they even make cooked pistachio pudding or not anymore or if they ever even did? But make sure whatever you get it’s instant!)

And of course – if pistachio pudding is not your forte, you can always substitute that pudding with ANY pudding you like.

I definitely need to do a LOT more digging on the whole story and source of this recipe, but for now am going to publish it just as I have it from my grandma’s cookbook – I mean, she did make like 40 copies of this to hand out and share so it only seems right I share it with you too!

Wimpy’s Weakness Recipe

Wimpy's Weakness is a great dessert bar recipe featuring pistachio pudding and one of my grandma's all time favorites.

Ingredients 1x2x3x

For the Crust:

1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 stick margarine or butter
½ cup chopped nuts

For the Filling:

1 cup powdered sugar
8 oz Cream Cheese
9 oz whipped cream divided
2 packages instant pistachio pudding
3 cups milk

Instructions

With a pastry blender mix together all of the crust ingredients. Spread in 9×13 pan and bake at 350° for 10 to 15 minutes. Cool in refrigerator.
Cream together the powdered sugar, cream cheese, and half of the container of whipped cream. Spread onto the cooled crust.
Prepare 2 packages of pistachio instant pudding according to package directions using 3 cups of milk instead of 4. Pour over the cream cheese layer and top with remaining cool whip.
Chill overnight or for at least 5 hours.

Notes

This recipe can be made with almost any flavor pudding such as banana cream or coconut cream.

Nutrition

Calories: 200kcal Carbohydrates: 21g Protein: 3g Fat: 12g Saturated Fat: 5g Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g Monounsaturated Fat: 4g Cholesterol: 21mg Sodium: 206mg Potassium: 93mg Fiber: 0.3g Sugar: 16g Vitamin A: 418IU Vitamin C: 0.04mg Calcium: 63mg Iron: 0.3mg