Banana Pudding

Someone told me banana pudding is just banana flavored, yellow colored pudding. LOL...not in this house.

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Ingredients

3-4 bananas, sliced

8 oz. of cool whip or whipped topping

4 oz of cream cheese

8oz of mascarpone cheese

1 large box of jell-o instant vanilla pudding

3 cups of milk (or milk substitute but NOT soy milk)

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

2 tsp of almond extract

1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream

1 box of Nilla wafers

(Carmel and sea salt optional)

Cooking Instructions

1. Make vanilla pudding according to the box instructions and set it aside in the fridge. This is where you use your 3 cups of milk or milk alternative, but do NOT use soy milk or the pudding won't set.

2. Mix the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese,1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 cup of cream, and almond extract with a handheld or standard mixer until smooth. Once smooth, set aside in the fridge.

3. Line the bottom of whatever container the pudding will be made in (I used an upside down cake holder) with Nilla wafer cookies. Crush if desired.

4. Add a layer of sliced bananas over the Nilla wafers (if you got the carmel and sea salt, add ta light layer of carmel over the bananas and sparingly sprinkle salt on top of the carmel) then add a layer of vanilla pudding followed by a layer of the whipped cheese and finish off with a layer of cool whip.

5. Repeat the layering as needed then sprinkle about ¼ cup of crumbled wafers over the final layer of cool whip and top with sliced bananas. (If I have some extra cool whip left, I dollop it around the edges of the bowl which can be seen below)

6. Allow your banana pudding to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.