I have never been able to say no to a cream pie, whether it be banana, coconut or chocolate. And fortunately my children have inherited that gene as well. I tend to make a lot of stuff from scratch, but this is one of the desserts, that in my humble opinion, tastes just as good using pudding mix vs. homemade custard. There I said it! So next time you need a quick and easy dessert, give this a try. Your family will go bananas for it! 🙂

Ingredients:

Crust:

1/4 cup melted butter

1 1/4 cups graham crumbs

Filling:

1 package of vanilla pudding (stove-top version or instant)

If you prefer to use a homemade custard here is a recipe you can use Vanilla Custard

2 bananas

Topping:

1 cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla extract (I’m a big fan of Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste )

1 tbsp sugar

Directions

Melt the butter in a pan.  Once melted, turn heat off. Add crumbs to the pan and mix until combined. (This will save you from using a separate bowl). Press crumbs into a pie plate and put it in the fridge to cool down while you are make the pudding.

For the pudding, follow the instructions on the package. If you are using cooked pudding, let it cool for about 5 minutes after it’s done. While waiting, remove the crust from the fridge and slice 2 bananas on top of the crust.

Once the pudding cools slightly, pour it on top of the bananas. I find cooked pudding often catches on the bottom of the pan, if this happens to you, be careful not to scrape the bottom of the pan.

Let cool on the counter for a bit and then put into the fridge until completely cool.

Now it’s time for the whipped cream. Put the cream, sugar and vanilla into a metal or glass mixing bowl. Using a mixer on high speed whip until peeks form. Now here is the very IMPORTANT part – make sure to give the beaters to the kids to lick, or they will NEVER forgive you!

Put the whipped cream on top and chill until you are ready to serve…but I bet you won’t be able to wait!