In a food processor place flour, pecans, sugar, and salt together and pulse until mixture resembles flour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place pecan flour mixture into a small bowl and add melted butter. Stir until all ingredients are moistened. Transfer mixture to a lightly greased (I spray my pan lightly with a non-stick cooking spray) 9×13 glass baking pan and press evenly on bottom of pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to completely cool on a cooling rack. I like using this 9×13 pan because it conveniently has it’s own lid for keeping the pie fresh when storing in the refrigerator.

Place cream cheese in a medium bowl along with the powdered sugar. With an electric hand mixer beat ingredients until combined. Then add heavy whipping cream and beat until creamy and smooth. Cover and set aside.

The chocolate filling is the pudding. You can either buy 2 (3.4 ounce) boxes of instant chocolate pudding and use 3 cups of whole milk or use my recipe below. I always make my chocolate pudding recipe. No more boxes for me!

In a saucier pan combine sugar, cacao powder, corn starch, salt and milk. Whisk ingredients together until mixture is lump free. Then use a spoon and continuously stir mixture over medium high heat bringing mixture to a boil. Continue to boil for 1 full minute. Remove pudding from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla extract until butter has completely melted. Cover chocolate with plastic wrap and gently lay on top of chocolate and set aside until completely cooled. Putting the plastic wrap directly on top of the chocolate will prevent a surface film from forming.

I have seen some recipes that use an 8 ounce tub of frozen/thawed whipped topping. I prefer to make my own. Below are the ingredients I use for making the whipped cream topping for this recipe.

Place heavy whipping cream, confection sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until ready to use.

Place coconut in a sauce pan over medium heat stirring constantly until desired brownness achieved. Be careful not to allow the coconut to get too brown. You will see that once it starts turning golden it will rapidly begin to turn brown and may even begin to burn. Remove from heat, place in a small bowl and allow to cool completely.

Start with the baked pecan crust as the first layer.

Gently spread the sweetened cream cheese on top of the pecan crust.

Then evenly spread the chocolate pudding on top of the cream cheese.

Next, add whipped cream on top of the chocolate pudding and gently spread over entire surface. Place pan in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Lastly, sprinkle toasted coconut on top of whipped cream. I usually add the toasted coconut when serving. By doing so the coconut will remain crispy.