Pudding Pops

I receive the Kraft "Food and Family" magazine in the mail every so often. It has a lot of easy family friendly recipes. Well, this time we decided to try the recipe for pudding pops, and it turned out to be lots of fun, and quite yummy! The possibilities are endless!

This is the recipe as written in the magazine:

Cookies and Creme Pudding Pops

1 pkg (3.9 oz) Jell-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 C Cold Milk (I used 1%)
6 Oreo Cookies (I used 8...love the Oreo's!)
1/2 C Thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping (used more, like about 1 cup)

Beat pudding mix and milk in a large bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Place cookies in a resealable bag and seal. Crush cookies using a rolling pin. Add cookies and cool whip to pudding; stir just until blended. Spoon into 9 (I got 12) small paper or plastic cups. Insert wooden pop stick or plastic spoon into each for handle. Freeze 5 hours or until firm.

As most of you know, I have two 3-year-olds, and we had a blast making these together! So, it was fun AND we had a tasty treat to eat during this hot weather. Yesterday we finished off the last of the chocolate pops, and I opened the pantry to see what else we could make. I found banana pudding, and some leftover Nutter Butters....hmmmmmm...

So, we ended up throwing together an other batch with these ingredients:

And again, the kids had so much fun helping! Really...get out the play hammers, it's so much more fun!

And today, we ate another yummy treat!

Banana Nutter Butter Pudding Pops

1 pkg (3.9 oz) Jell-O Banana Cream Instant Pudding
2 C Cold Milk (I used 2% this time, and it was SO creamy!)
7 Nutter Butter Cookies
1 C Whipped Topping, thawed

Beat pudding mix and milk in a large bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Place cookies in a resealable bag and seal. Crush cookies using play HAMMERS!! Add cookies and whipped topping to pudding; stir just until blended. Spoon into 15 small paper or plastic cups. Insert wooden pop stick or plastic spoon into each for handle. Freeze 5 hours or until firm. Enjoy!

Banana Nutter Butter Trifle

I am a huge fan of peanut butter, and I love almost anything to do with bananas. So, I was pretty excited (to say the least) to see this recipe on a food blog. (I can't remember which one...sorry!)

I decided to make this with banana bread instead of cake, which made it rich and heavenly. I doubled this recipe for classic banana bread that I found on Our Best Bites. Those gals never let you down! The bread was so yummy! I made this to take to a get-together at a friend's house, so I wasn't able to get many pictures. But, it looked great in my crystal bowl, and it made TONS. I would dare say that this will serve 12 people pretty generous servings. It looks best right after you put it together, before the bananas start to turn brown...but, let me just tell you that it tasted pretty fabulous the next day even after the bananas were a tiny bit brown. If you have a small trifle dish, you might want to half this recipe! What's your favorite kind of trifle?

Nutter Butter Trifle

1 1/2 loaves of banana bread cut into cubes or crumbled
1 package peanut butter chips (1 1/2 cups of chips)
2 (3.4 oz each) packages instant banana cream pudding mix
1 8 oz carton of whipped topping (like cool whip)
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup whipping cream
4 1/4 cup milk (I used 1 percent)
4 large ripe bananas
12-14 nutter butter cookies, plus more for garnish

Bake (or purchase) your favorite banana bread recipe, and let it cool completely. Mix together both packages of banana pudding mix with 4 cups of the milk and chill until the pudding is well set. In a small sauce pan, combine on low heat the extra 1/4 cup milk, cream, and peanut butter chips. Stir until the chips are melted and smooth. Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature. Crush nutter butter cookies.

For assembly: Place half of the cubed or crumbled bread into a trifle bowl, then top with half of the peanut butter sauce. Next, layer half of the banana pudding, followed by 2 sliced bananas, half of the whipped topping, and then half of the nutter butter cookies. Then, repeat! Garnish with additional whole nutter butters, if desired. Serve immediately. Makes 12 servings.

Banana Filled Graham Cracker Pancakes (revisited)

Oh boy, I should have eaten breakfast before starting this post because just looking at these pictures is making me drool. I made these again a few weeks ago, and couldn't help but take some pictures and re-post this because they were SO good. It really would be worth purchasing the special pan so that you can enjoy these. This time I served them with buttermilk syrup, and it put them on a whole new level!

Banana Filled Graham Cracker Pancakes

4 oz graham crackers, broken into pieces (this is 7 whole graham crackers, or enough crumbs to fill a 1 cup measuring cup)
3/4 C all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
5 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 C buttermilk
6 Tbs. (3/4 of a stick) of butter, melted
2 bananas, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 cup heavy cream
maple or buttermilk syrup syrup for serving

Put graham crackers in blender or food processor and blend on high until powdery. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, 3 Tbs. sugar, and salt; pulse to combine. In large bowl, whisk egg yolks and buttermilk. Whisk in flour mixture; batter will be lumpy.



Using electric mixer, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff (but not dry) peaks form, 1-2 min. Gently stir whites into batter in 2 additions.






Put 1/2 tsp. butter into each well of filled-pancake pan. Heat over medium heat (I kept it on medium-low to avoid burning them, and my pan is cast-iron). Pour 2 tsp. batter into each well. Place 3 banana pieces in center of each pancake; top with 1 tsp. batter. Cook 3-5 minutes.



Using 2 skewers or forks, gently flip pancakes over and cook 2- 3 minutes more. (You know that they are ready to flip when you move it around with the skewer, and the whole pancake moves...if part of it sticks, they're not ready to turn yet.) Transfer pancakes to plates. Repeat with remaining batter.

Whip cream until firm and sweeten with the other 2 Tbs. of sugar if desired. (Once I just served them with spray whip cream from a can because it was easier, but the whipped cream is best, of course!) Serve pancakes warm with whipped cream and maple syrup or buttermilk syrup. (oh, really, click on this link and try the buttermilk syrup...it's SO worth it!!) Makes about 35 pancakes.