Paula Deen Banana Pudding

Not Yo Momma’s Paula Deen Banana Pudding is a fluffy mixture of creamy pudding and whipped cream with cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Plus it’s served with Chessman Cookies on the bottom and on top!

I loved banana pudding anything as a little girl. If lip smackers had been smart when I was entering jr high they would have made bank off of a lip gloss for banana pudding anything. 

Did you buy Lip Smackers as well? Something like, white cake batter, or Dr Pepper? Those were the good ol’ days. 

Paula Deen’s Not Yo Mama’s Banana Pudding 

Paula Deen Banana Pudding, or the full name, Paula Deen’s Not Yo Momma’s (or Mama’s) Banana Pudding is a little bit deceiving so I just want to get this out of the way first, it’s not a banana pudding recipe. 

I mean, it is. There are banana slices under the pudding. But the actual pudding is a french vanilla pudding whipped up with sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese. 

That’s a legit pudding dessert. 

Ingredients for Not Yo Momma’s Banana Pudding

Here’s your quick grocery list to make your banana pudding with Chessman Cookies. 

• Chessman Cookies: traditionally used in a classic recipe for banana pudding and can be found on the cookie aisle
  • Fun Fact: This recipe is sometimes known as Chessman banana pudding!
• French Vanilla Instant Pudding Box: make sure it is instant pudding and not cook & serve pudding
• Cool Whip: if you can’t find a 12oz tub of Cool Whip, use 1 and half of the 8oz tubs
• Cream Cheese: make sure it is room temperature so that it doesn’t get lumpy
• Sweetened Condensed Milk: adds sweetness and creaminess to the dessert
• Milk: combines with the pudding mix the create the pudding
• Bananas: ripe bananas are the best for their sweetness and bold banana flavor

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Substitute for Chessman Cookies

Vanilla Wafers are the best substitute for Chessman cookies if you can’t find them. Chessman Cookies are usually by the Pepperidge Farm brand so look by the Mint Milano cookies.

How to Make Paula Deen Banana Pudding  

1. Set the Cool Whip in the fridge or on the counter for a faster thaw.
2. Whisk milk and the instant pudding mix together in a small bowl. 
3. In another bowl, blend the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk with a handheld electric mixer.
4. Fold the Cool Whip into the cream cheese mixture. 
5. Stir together the vanilla pudding mixture and cream cheese mixture. 
6. Layer 1 bagof cookies on the bottom of a 9×13 dish, top the cookies with a layer of bananas. 
7. Pile on the pudding.

These coconut chocolate chip cookies are loaded with both white and dark chocolate, in addition to a good amount of coconut. They are delicious warm from the oven and every bit as fantastic two days later.

Chewy Coconut Cookies

These are chewy cookies with crunchy edges, filled to the max with almost all of my favorite cookie flavors. I’ve made them three times in the past month! It clearly takes very little excuse for me to stir together a batch of these cookies.

There’s a little bit of oatmeal tucked inside as well, adding to that terrific texture and chewiness.

White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you don’t happen to be a fan of white chocolate, feel free to replace it with semi-sweet, milk, or dark chocolate. While I am very rarely a fan of white chocolate myself, I do enjoy it in these cookies.

The white chocolate chips add creamy sweetness, while the darker chocolate chips contribute rich, bitter notes. Their contrasting flavors create a great balance in these cookies.

Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this recipe:

Soft and chewy oatmeal cookies filled with the perfect amount of raisins are a classic that will never stop being made in my house. These have been Sean’s favorite cookies for as long as I can remember.

Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I’ve been making this recipe since we were newlyweds (has it really been over 25 years?!) and the recipe is timeless for a good reason. These really are the best oatmeal raisin cookies.

(And I take no credit for that. The recipe below is very lightly adapted from the ancient recipe on the side of the Quaker oatmeal packaging.)

With simple pantry ingredients, a bit of butter, a couple of eggs, and a generous handful of raisins, these cookies come together in very little time at all.

The dough freezes well, as do the cookies, so I frequently double or triple the recipe to have it on hand all the time.

What’s not to love about having cookie dough stashed in the freezer?

Frozen Cookie Dough

I was sick over the holidays a few years ago and I was craving oatmeal cookies, but I didn’t have any in the freezer. Side note: This cookie dough freezes beautifully, so I highly recommend stashing some away for future baking.

Sean made a batch of these cookies for me that Christmas and they turned out perfectly. Baking is not his thing at all, so having an easy and reliable recipe helps!

In addition to keeping cookie dough in the freezer, I recommend tucking a few of the cookies in the freezer too. I love having them for snacking on with my morning coffee.

Kitchen Tip: I use this bowl, this Read more

Orange Creamsicle Cookies

Ingredients Needed for Orange Creamsicle Cookies

This cookie recipe has all of your standard cookie ingredients with some fresh orange zest for natural orange flavor and white chocolate chips for creamy vanilla goodness. Here is what you will need:

• Flour: just regular all-purpose flour 
• Corn Starch: the addition of just a little corn starch keeps the cookies tender but still crumbly
• Baking Soda: the leavening agent that gives the cookies their fluffiness
• Salt: enhances all the flavors
• Orange Zest: rub the zest with the white sugar to release oils for smell and flavor
• Sugar: adds sweetness
• Brown Sugar: make sure it is firmly packed and it adds richness to cookies
• Butter: unsalted and softened
• Shortening: you can use all butter if you want but you will get a fluffier cookie with some shortening added
• Egg: gives the cookies structure as they bake
• Vanilla: adds flavor
• Orange Extract: totally optional, I prefer the cookies without it but it won’t have as strong an orange flavor. Never use orange juice.
• White Chocolate: chunks or chips, I used Ghirardelli white chocolate chunks.

The measurements for each ingredient are listed in the recipe card below along with the instructions for how to make these cookies.

How to Make Creamsicle Orange Cookies

1. Preheat oven.
2. Chop the white chocolate chunks.
3. Combine dry ingredients.
4. Activate the orange zest by rubbing

Strawberry cookies made with real strawberries! These cookies are soft with slightly crispy edges and a thick, chewy middle. You can top them with a light glaze or roll them in sugar.

I was about to make our lemon drop cookies a few months ago when I got the brilliant idea that if a candy could be blended to flavor a cookie, surely freeze dried fruit could as well. Sure enough, a summer strawberry cookie was born! 

I thought strawberry was the absolute best flavor as a kid. Now I actually tend to go more raspberry out of the berry family (curious what you all would pick), but my kids are for sure on the childhood bandwagon of fresh, juicy red strawberries. They love that these cookies are dense and chewy but they have the pick of rolling in sugar or topping with a crackly glaze.

I personally prefer to make a lemon glaze to brighten up these sweet cookies, but you can do whatever makes you happy!

Ingredients for Strawberry Cookies

Most of the strawberry cookie recipes out there use strawberry cake mix or strawberry pudding to get the strawberry flavor (in fact we have our own strawberry pudding cookie recipe here on the blog), but I love using real strawberries in this recipe to get that true strawberry flavor. Here is what you will need to make these cookies:

For the Cookies

• Freeze Dried Strawberries: Don’t use fresh strawberries. They will add too much moisture to the dough and make the cookies cakey.
• Sugar: regular granulated white sugar
• Butter Flavored Shortening: You can also use regular shortening (you’ll lose a little richness in flavor) or just regular butter but they end up more dry with just butter.
• Unsalted Butter: softened, combined with the shortening, the cookies are tender and still rich in flavor
• Eggs: add structure to the cookies
• Vanilla: adds flavor
• Strawberry Extract: just for a little boost in flavor
• Flour: use all-purpose flour
• Baking Soda: leavening agent to give the cookies rise and fluffiness
• Baking Powder: leavening agent that works with the baking soda to help the cookies rise
• Salt: enhances all the flavors

For the Glaze

• Powdered Sugar: adds sweetness and structure to the glaze
• Milk or Water: milk will be a little more rich in flavor
• Lemon Juice: I love to add a little lemon juice to give a nice flavor burst to the cookie, but it is totally optional.
  • BONUS: You could also add a little strawberry extract to the glaze if you want even more strawberry flavor.

Sugar

• Sugar: Roll the cookie dough balls in sugar before baking if you prefer that instead of the glaze.

The measurements for all the ingredients and the instructions for making these cookies can all be found in the recipe card at the