Palmier Cookie Banana Pudding

I am definitely not a banana person, so if there are bananas in the house, it is typically my husband who wants them there or I have picked them up to try to get some more fresh fruit into my diet. Either way, they tend to sit on the counter for days until they are brown and very ripe. This is exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago, so I decided to turn bananas into banana pudding! Now you can take your favorite banana pudding recipe and change the cookie like I did and it will give it a whole new flavor! I used a package of French Palmier Cookies I picked up at one of my favorite places to shop, World Market. They seemed crispy and wafer-like and the perfect substitute for the ordinary vanilla wafers I normally put in my banana pudding. They were drizzled with honey and were the perfect sweetness to my very ripe bananas. I could have eaten them straight out of the package if I hadn’t used them for my quick and easy banana pudding. I can tell you it didn’t last very long in my house! Now how’s that for your daily intake of fresh fruit!

Enjoy!

Palmier Cookie Banana Pudding

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (5.1 oz.) package vanilla instant pudding mix or you can make your own
• 1 package of French Palmier Cookies
• 6 small to medium ripe bananas
• 4 egg whites
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl and beat at low speed with an electric mixer until blended. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes or until mixture is smooth and thick. Layer palmier cookies in a 2 1/2-quart baking dish. Slice 2 bananas and layer over cookies. Pour 1/3 of pudding over bananas. Repeat layers twice, ending with pudding. Arrange remaining cookies around edge of baking dish. Beat egg whites at high speed until foamy. Add 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves (2-4 minutes). Fold in vanilla extract. Spread meringue over pudding, sealing to edge of dish. Bake 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden.