The Best Ever Banana Pudding

In high school, my best friend and her sister would host an annual Christmas party and we always looked forward to one thing: her mom’s banana pudding. We would literally get stomachaches from eating so much but it was well worth it, it is so good!

Banana pudding is one of those feel-good comfort desserts. It’s a classic Southern favorite and has that perfect ratio of bananas, vanilla cookies and creamy, delicious pudding.  I keep the ingredients on hand just to satisfy those cravings! It’s perfect to make when you have some bananas you need to use up. 

My semi-homemade recipe is slightly different, but it’s super easy and still oh-so-good. This is definitely a dessert to make for your next gathering, trust me it’s a crowd pleaser!

Banana Pudding

Ingredients:

4-6 Bananas

1 Box (5 oz.) Banana Cream Instant Pudding Mix

2 cups Milk

1 Package (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 1/2 cups Whipped Cream

1 box Vanilla Cookies

 

In a bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and milk; let stand to set. In another bowl, use a mixer to blend the softened cream cheese with the sweetened condensed milk until smooth.

Gently fold in 3/4 of the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture until combined. Then, stir the pudding into the cream cheese/whipped cream mixture until blended.

Using either a trifle bowl or individual cups, start by layering vanilla cookies (for individual cups I crumble the cookies), followed by banana slices, then 1/2 of pudding mixture. Repeat (depending on size of individual cups, you may only have 2 layers) and then finish off with the remaining whipped cream.

Refrigerate until ready to serve, garnishing by topping with crumbled cookies and banana slices.

Enjoy!