Banana Pudding! (secret ingredient recipe)

Um...
I don't even know where to start.

For one, I've never posted a recipe on a blog before....
Two.... WHO let me in the kitchen! LOL!

Just kidding. As long as it doesn't involve the stove, I'm good.

Like many of you, I go to pinterest for basically everything.
Need a recipe? Pinterest.
Need some decor inspo? Pinterest.
Need a workout idea? Pinterest.

Seriously. It's my lifeline!

So Tim and I were laying in bed the other night and I asked him if he'd like me to make dirt pudding or banana pudding for our outing Saturday night! I wasn't surprised at all when he said banana pudding.

I would've said dirt pudding though.
That's why we're good together.
Balance.

Well.. I would've said dirt pudding before I tried this banana pudding recipe with my secret ingredient that is!
I even texted my bff and told her that if the pudding didn't persuade Tim to marry me, then nothing would. It's THAT good.

So here we go...

Ingredients

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed

1 box Vanilla Wafers

4 bananas, sliced

2 1/2 cups Banana Almond Milk AKA Secret Ingredient!!!

1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

My Kroger didn't have a 12oz container of Cool Whip, so I bought the 16oz container and eye balled it (check mark it... my first mistake in my first recipe blog- admitting I eye balled something.) until it looked like I had about 4oz remaining in the tub. 

Next time, I will buy 2 boxes of wafers so I can use another half a bag. The cookies are my favorite part.

The original recipe called for a 13x9x2 in dish. But I wanted to use my pioneer woman dish that is 9x4! Then I put the rest in a 6x6 dish. 

First, I lined the bigger, longer dish with cookies, and layered the cookies with bananas. 

Then, in one bowl I mixed the pudding mix and banana almond milk with my mixer. Y'all. YES you COULD use regular milk. But the banana almond milk is the difference. Trust me. 

Says the girl who burns the bacon. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Trust me. 

In another bowl, I mixed the sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese. Then folded in the whipped topping. 

I added the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stirred until it was smooth.

Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas. Place the remaining cookies on top. I refrigerated until ready to serve. About 5 hours.

I shared almost all the steps on Instagram in my stories. I should've saved them to my highlights. Next time.

Let me know if you make it AND use the banana almond milk and if you taste the difference! It's smooth and creamy and extra banana-y!

Steps

1. Line your dish with cookies and layer the bananas on top. 

2. In one bowl, use hand-held mixer to mix pudding mix and banana almond milk. Mix until no clumps and texture is smooth. 

3. In another bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Fold in whipped topping. Add the cream cheese mixer and mix until well blended. 

4. Pour the mixture on top of cookies and bananas. Top the mixture with the remaining cookies.

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