Not Yo' Mamma's Banana Puddin'

Happy Birthday Dad! Steve often chooses chocolate something or banana pudding for his birthday dessert. I love to make banana pudding because I (Cris) am not tempted by it at all. When I was expecting Emily I had an unpleasent experience with bananas. I can eat them now, but I never crave them. We tried a new banana pudding recipe, Not Yo' Mamma's Banana Pudding. It was outstanding! It also had a much better presentation than the usual gloppy mess of regular banana pudding recipes. It's a Paula Deen recipe from the Food Network. She seems to know her desserts, so we tried it. It is a super easy recipe - cream cheese, shortbread instead of vanilla wafers - hard to mess up. Try it, I think you'll like it, even if you aren't normally a banana pudding person.

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Cookies
6 to 8 bananas sliced*
2 cups milk
1 5-ounce box instant French vanilla pudding**
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
12 ounces frozen whipped topping, thawed
Line the bottom of a 13″x 9″x 2″dish with 1 bag of cookies. Place bananas on top.
Blend milk with pudding mix. Beat cream cheese and condensed milk together until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Add this mixture to the pudding and stir until blended. Pour over bananas.
Cover the top with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until serving.
*I usually use 5 bananas sliced very thinly. If you’re a big banana fan, though, you may want to use more.**I’ve never found this size box at my grocery store. I only find the 3+ ounce size and use 1 & 1/2 boxes for the recipe.