A Better Banana Pudding

I love a good banana pudding. This recipe is from Paula Deen. I'm not sure which cookbook it's from but my Mom gave it to me. She made the most delicious banana pudding for Thanksgiving last year. I wanted to give it a try. There are a couple of unexpected ingredients here that make all the difference. In the pictures below you will notice that I used regular vanilla wafers. The recipe calls for Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies. The commissary didn't have them so I had to substitute with the traditional wafer. It is so much better with the chessmen cookies!! Use them if you can.

Ingredients

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies

6 to 8 bananas sliced

2 cups of milk

1 (5oz) box instant french vanilla pudding

1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12oz) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Directions

Line the bottom of a 13x9x2 inch dish with one 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.

vanilla wafers

sliced bananas on top

milk and pudding mix

condensed milk and cream cheese

everything mixed w/ whipped topping

mixture added to bananas and cookies

topped with cookies