Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding
Courtesy of Paula Deen
* 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
* 6 to 8 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
Directions
Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.
In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding 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.
The Verdict: This is VERY good. Since I don't have easy access to Pepperidge Farm stuff, I used some coconut flavored biscuit cookies instead. If I make it again I'd just ditch the cookies because you don't really need them and it just makes it slightly harder to dish up. I do think that this would work really well in a graham cracker crust. I did use pudding mix, but it's a little hard to come by here and I don't see any reason that you couldn't just use the "vla" that you can buy in a carton here. I used real whipping cream and "Klop Fix" (by Dr Oetker) to keep it fluffy. I'll add this to my make-again file, but probably will only use it for very special occasions since it's so rich.
