Summer Time Favorites: Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

Summer is among us. Bring this dish to your next BBQ and you will be the star. A little twist on traditional Banana pudding. I grew up making this dish just by alternating layers of CoolWhip, pudding, bananas and vanilla wafers. The recipe below takes it up a notch- Paula Deen Style.

Note: If you are looking to make this recipe in HK, I found the harder to find ingredients at Oliver's

Ingredients:

• 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
• 3-4 large bananas, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
• 1 (8-ounce) package  cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Line the bottom of a 13x 9 dish with one bag of cookies.  No worries if some are broken as they will be covered up. Make sure to save the pretty ones for the top layer.

Layer bananas on top (I used 3 large bananas). 

In a separate bowl, combine the milk and vanilla pudding mix and blend well until smooth. In another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix with a handheld electric mixer

Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture.

Add the pudding to the cream cheese mixture  and stir until well blended.

Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Make the day of or night before the event.  

Thanks to my Aussie girls for this gorgeous casserole dish that they gave me for my wedding shower. Looking forward to making more recipes in it this summer!

For the full Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding recipe, click here. Or Google "Chessmen banana pudding recipe". Too many calories to handle? The Weight Watchers recipe is a nice alternative. Click here.