Over The Moon Banana Pudding

This past Christmas, I was gifted the Southern Living Tailgating Cookbook. Or as I like to refer to it, the gift that keeps on giving. If you aren’t familiar with tailgating, (come over so I can make you some Rotel dip and we can chat over low-country boil) you must know that tailgating foods aren’t the picture of health. Typically, I chalk it up to, it’s just one day each week, and eat without guilt on game day.  But, this cookbook changed the rules of the game, it even replaced the Cooking Light book on display in my kitchen. I’m always searching for opportunities to cook the things featured on the glossy pages of this cookbook. Football season is coming and I obviously have to do some research before we officially begin tailgating.

On Easter, we tested the Over The Moon Banana Pudding and it was a hit! I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical, I’m a Not Yo’ Mama’s Banana Pudding fan.  This version is different, you can’t really compare the two, but they are both delicious.

 Over-The-Moon Banana Pudding from Southern Living: The OffIcial SEC Tailgating Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 2 packages cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix (4.6 oz)
• 4 cups of milk
• 1 container of sour cream (8 oz)
• 8 (2.75 oz) Chocolate Moon Pies, cut into eighths
• 3 bananas, sliced (plus one more for garnish)
• 1 (8 oz) container of Cool-Whip- thawed

1. Cook pudding mix and milk in a saucepan according to package directions. Remove pan from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Whisk in sour cream; let stand until pudding thickens- about 20 minutes.
2. Pour half of pudding into a 2-qt baking dish. Layer about 40 Moon Pie wedges over pudding. Top with banana slices and add remaining half of pudding. Top with Cool-Whip. Arrange remaining Moon Pie slices around the outer edge of dish. Cover and chill at least 2 hours. I let mine chill over night. Garnish with bananas before serving.