Banana Pudding CheesecakeSouthern Living

(Bouncy happy music) One of my favorite desserts is banana pudding. My Aunt Brenda used to make it for me every year for my birthday as a present, and now it's the dessert I bring to our Thanksgiving family lunch every single year. When you make the crust for this recipe, it's important to press the crumb mixture up around the springform pan. And then you can stand vanilla wafers up into your pressed-down crumb mixture.

The crumbs will actually help your vanilla wafers stand up along the crust, and so you'll have a pretty crust around the edges. You have to use ripe bananas. Overripe bananas that have turned almost completely brown are actually perfect for this recipe. The best thing about this dessert is that you can make it in advance because it does have a long chill time.

So you're not really worried about making dessert when you have plenty of other things to be worried about the day of your event. When you bake cheesecake, it's important to bake it 'til the center is almost set. If you bake your cheesecake until it's set, it will end up being overdone once you take it out. You don't wanna have brown bananas or wilty whipped cream, so it's important to decorate it right before you serve it.

When we put our banana pudding out at Thanksgiving, we always announce to get it while the gettin's good. And I hope y'all enjoy this recipe as much as I do, because it's sure to disappear quickly..