Cream Cheese Banana Pudding

I think I've come up a recipe for the best banana pudding ever! I thought I already had a pretty good banana pudding recipe that uses sweetened condensed milk, among other things; but I don't have any sweetened condensed milk because a) I'm trying to lay off of sugar after falling off the bandwagon last week big time and b) I'm trying to use up as many of my groceries as I can before I leave for home next week. So I scrounged around with what I had on hand, and came up with this quick and easy version that is better than any I've ever had. Mine is sugar-free, but you can use whichever version you'd like.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 c sugar or Splenda
• 1 c whipped topping (regular or sugar free)
• 1 pkg vanilla instant pudding (regular or sugar free)
• 1 3/4 c milk
• 2 large or 3 small bananas
• 1 pkg butter cookies (the kind that are shaped like flowers with holes in the middle--I used Murray Sugar-free shortbread cookies)

1. Spread a layer of butter flower cookies on the bottom of an 8 x 8 dish.
2. Top with a layer of thinly sliced bananas. I used two large ones, if yours are small you may want to use three.
3. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sugar or Splenda, and 1 cup of whipped topping.
4. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla pudding until well blended and just starting to thicken.
5. Combine the pudding with the cream cheese mixture until well blended. Mine was still a bit lumpy because my honey was already asleep and I mixed it by hand instead of breaking out the mixer. (It still tasted good, though, trust me!)
6. Spread the cream cheese pudding mixture over the cookies and bananas, then add a row of cookies all around the edges--I always because everyone I know who makes banana pudding does it. And it looks pretty. And tastes good.
7. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. I think we waited 10-15 minutes then we couldn't stand it any more.

I've been experimenting with sugar free desserts for a couple of months now, and I have to say, this is the best yet. It didn't taste sugar free, it tasted like the best banana pudding I've ever made--no funny "whang" or aftertaste, just creamy sweet goodness. I can only imagine what it would be with "regular" pudding or whipped topping or cookies. Wowsa.

This post is linked to:

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
Food on Friday at Ann Kroeker
Friday Food at Momtrends
Recipe Swap at the Grocery Cart Challenge
Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
Delicious Dishes at It's a Blog Party
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free
Tuesday at the Table at All the Small Stuff



Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!

Not Your Granny's Banana Puddin'

Probably a staple at every Southern family reunion is good old banana pudding. I can remember my grandmother making the traditional banana pudding--hot, cooked pudding poured over layers of vanilla wafers and banana slices--best eaten when it's cooled just enough to "set", but still slightly warm. (Any later and it turned into a slimy mess of soggy cookies and blackened bananas. Yuck.) Every now and then she made a pineapple version for one of my cousins who doted on it. (Hot pineapple. Double yuck.)

Banana pudding was never one of my favorites growing up, but I did enjoy it on occasion if I could catch it at just that right moment--otherwise, I'd rather have the pie. Or cake. Or anything other than banana pudding.

A number of years ago, though, there began to appear recipes for "uncooked" banana pudding. At first they were just instant pudding poured over the cookies and banana--good, but nothing to write home about.

Later some other versions came up, made with that staple of a Good Southern Belle cook--Cool Whip. My sister made one of these at Easter, and it was Very Good.

I remembered, though, somewhere in the back of my brain, finding a recipe once for uncooked banana pudding that was made with sweetened condensed milk as one of it's ingredients, and I determined to leave no search engine unsearched until I found it. Turns out there are several different versions of uncooked-banana-pudding-made-with-sweetened-condensed-milk, so I looked over several of them and found the basis of what I believe may be the Ultimate Uncooked Banana Pudding. It has all the right ingredients--namely, Cool Whip, sweetened condensed milk, and cream cheese. Could it possibly get any better than this? I don't think so. I did adjust the proportions of some ingredients, but I believe this may be IT.

Here is my version of the Ultimate Uncooked Banana Puddin'

Ingredients:

• Vanilla Wafers
• 4-5 bananas
• 2 boxes of instant vanilla pudding
• 1 8ox pkg cream cheese, softened
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 c milk
• 1/2 container Cool Whip

Cover the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with vanilla wafers. The original recipe called for 30--it took 35 (yes, I counted) to cover the bottom, plus a couple of extra thrown in just to be sure. And I like to put some around the edges to look traditional, too, so that was at least 20-25 more, if you really want to count them. Cover with sliced bananas. The original recipe called for 2 thinly sliced bananas. They must have shaved them awfully thin, because I used 4 or 5 to cover the pan. Mix the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, milk, and pudding mix, and beat for 2-3 minutes. Add cool whip, and beat at low speed until well mixed. Spoon over the top of the cookies and bananas. Add extra cookies around the edge. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

Notes: I had a hard time getting the cream cheese to mix in thoroughly. I let it sit out to soften, but apparently not long enough--when I added all of the pudding ingredients, including the cold milk, I had a hard time making the cream cheese fully incorporate. As a result, some bites have an extra little lump of cream cheese--for a special treat!

I made this tonight to take to a family reunion tomorrow. I had some extra pudding and cookies and one leftover banana, so I made a couple of small ones--don't they look cute? I admit--I tasted--the pudding is quite rich-I think it'll be a big hit.

What's your favorited version of banana pudding, cooked or uncooked?

I'm sharing this recipe at Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Bedlam and Beauty, and Tempt My Tummy Tusday at Blessed with Grace. Check both of these out for links to other recipes.

Until next time--good cooking, and good eating!