How sweet...

I love bananas, especially when they are overly ripe, mashed up, and baked in banana bread.  I have several bags of overly ripe bananas, pre-mashed and frozen for that intended purpose.  I've never been a fan of banana pudding, but when I came across this recipe I knew I had to give the sweet dessert another try.

I've had this recipe saved on one of my Pinterest boards for awhile now, but I can't seem to make everything I pin....anyone else having that issue?!  Pinterest needs to come up with a way to create a grocery list from the recipes that you pin.

This isn't the simple recipe you're used to...it's rich and decadent.  It takes banana pudding to a whole new level.

The original recipe (Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding) is from Paula Deen, but I found this recipe on a fun little blog, Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour.  (I'll link both recipes so you can access the original.)  I'm not a fan of the name, so maybe I'll rename it with my modifications ;)

1st Class Banana Pudding

   5 bananas, sliced

   Nilla wafers

   2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding

   3 cups of milk

   1- 8oz pkg of cream cheese, softened

   1- 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

   1- 12oz container of whipped topping

1. Line bottom of 9x13 baking dish with Nilla wafers.

2. Mix 3 cups of milk and the 2 boxes of instant pudding.  (I let mine set in the fridge while I prepped the other ingredients.)

3. Use hand mixer to combine cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Then fold in whipped topping.

4.  Finish cream cheese mixture by stirring in the pudding until well combined.

5.  Slice bananas and layer them over the wafers (they don't have to be perfect, no one is going to see them).  Then pour on pudding mixture, finish by topping pudding with some of the remaining wafers.

6. Cover and refrigerate.

What I did differently...I have to watch the amount of carbs that I eat and was a little shocked at the number of carbs in just one serving of the vanilla instant pudding.  So...I used sugar free pudding, 1/3 less fat cream cheese, and lite whipped topping.  I can't take out all the carbs, but a girl has to indulge a little, right?!

Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour made the suggestion to use the 3 cups of milk for the pudding and I would have to agree with her...3 cups will get you the perfect consistency on the pudding.  Click here for the link to the blog post.

Paula Deen used Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies instead of Nilla wafers...I most likely won't be trying this considering how much more expensive they are compared to a box of Nilla wafers.  Click here for Paula's recipe.

I'm excited to try the pudding after it's been able to chill over night.

Happy baking!

Bread fit for The King

So everyone knows that Elvis enjoyed bananas with his peanut butter.  I'm not sure if he was a fan of chocolate, the loved chocolate covered peanut butter candies were first introduced in the late 1920's, so I'm guessing he might have enjoyed the delightful combination.

When I first saw this recipe, I immediately thought of one of my dear friends who is a big fan of banana bread.  She would store very ripe bananas in the freezer, saving them for banana bread at the most perfect time.  I'm dedicating this recipe to my housemate, CA, for her birthday!

The picture doesn't do it justice...it's pretty amazing!

Reese's Peanut Butter Banana Bread

   3 very ripe bananas

   1/2 c peanut butter

   1/4 c oil

   1 egg

   1/2 c granulated sugar

   1/4 c brown sugar

   1 1/2 c all purpose flour

   1/2 tsp baking soda

   1 1/2 tsp baking powder

   1/2 tsp salt

   8oz bag of Reese's Mini cups

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Grease loaf pan.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

4. In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg, and sugars.

5. Pour your dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until just combined.  Batter will be lumpy.

6. Fold in your mini cups and spread batter into prepared pan.

7. Bake for approx 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

8. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen edges of bread from pan using a knife and remove loaf from pan.  Transfer bread to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Note on recipe: If you notice the bread browning too fast, lower the temperature down to 325.

Thanks to Cookies and Cups for the recipe!

Happy baking!