I have always loved anything and everything butterscotch. I haven’t found a butterscotch dessert that I haven’t liked. In elementary school I can remember my mom packing the butterscotch pudding cups in my lunch box. To tell you how old I was, I had a Brady Bunch and a Partridge Family lunch box. 🙂 This butterscotch parfait recipe really hit the spot!
My taste has refined a bit to go from a butterscotch pudding cup to this delicious butterscotch parfait. They are truly amazing and so pretty that they are worthy of serving to company. There is a secret to these though…they are super easy and quick! But, you don’t have to tell that to your company! Probably an even more important secret is that there is no baking or cooking involved in making these parfaits. Even if you can’t boil water you can put these beautiful and tasty parfaits together. Who doesn’t love making a dessert that you don’t have to bake or cook?

Flavor Time!
There is so much goodness and flavor going on in these bad boys! There is butterscotch pudding and Cool Whip. The Cool Whip helps tame the butterscotch flavor a bit so that it is just perfect and doesn’t overtake the dessert. The Vanilla Wafers add a really nice crunch to all the smoothness of this butterscotch parfait. A little butterscotch ice-cream topping drizzled over the top has a little bit of a different taste than the butterscotch pudding. These two different butterscotch tastes compliment each other very nicely. We can’t forget the maraschino cherry on the top. It adds a nice pop of color and a little fruitiness. Next time we might have to add a couple of maraschino cherries on the top. 🙂

Layer It Up!
As you are layering the ingredients, slowly and easily drop the pudding and Cool Whip in the center of the parfait glasses. By dropping in the center of the glass you keep the different layers from smearing onto the sides of the parfait glass into another layer of a different ingredient. This helps to keep it so much prettier. Especially if you are going to serve them to company.
Use some additional Vanilla Wafers to plate around the bottom of the parfait glass on a saucer. Also, place a Vanilla Wafer or two on the top of the Cool Whip. This gives you a varied look from the crushed Vanilla Wafers. This just makes it a little bit prettier.
When you crush your Vanilla Wafers it doesn’t take much pressure at all. Too much crushing and you will end up with dust. We put the Vanilla Wafers in a plastic zipped bag and then crushed with our hands. We ended up with a little more dust than we wanted. So we just didn’t use the dust and crushed up a few more Vanilla Wafers. It is a very forgiving process. Also, if you like more crunch then just add in some more Vanilla Wafers.

Butterscotch Parfait
Ingredients
- 1 package instant butterscotch pudding mix the small box (around 3.4 ounces)
- 2 cups whole milk cold
- 30 Vanilla Wafers coarsely crushed
- 1 container Cool Whip thawed
- 4 maraschino cherries or more to taste
- 4 tablespoons butterscotch ice cream topping
Instructions
- Crush the Vanilla Wafers into coarse pieces.
- Using a mixer, beat the pudding mix and milk for at least 4 minutes or until thickened.
- Layer pudding, crushed Vanilla Wafers and Cool Whip two times. Top with a maraschino cherry or two and a whole Vanilla Wafer or two.
- Refrigerate several hours before serving. Enjoy!

The nice thing about these is that you can make them earlier in the day and forget about them. That leaves you time to do other things instead of preparing your dessert at the last minute. Like maybe, I don’t know, getting a nice, long nap in before your guests arrive. 🙂
This butterscotch parfait is great severed with coffee. In my husband’s case though he isn’t a coffee lover so he had a glass of milk with his. He said the milk really went nicely with the parfait. Since I drink my coffee black, it was the perfect compliment to the sweetness of the parfait.
We promise your guests will think you went all out for them with this pretty dessert. Seriously though, isn’t it gorgeous?

Here are a couple other impressive desserts when you need that extra “Wow Factor”:
Gooey Caramel Cookie Bars
No-Bake Lemon Pie
Have an awesome day everyone. We hope you get the chance to impress some company with this easy and delicious dessert.
Oh my gosh, I love butterscotch too. This looks so yummy!
Going to try this!