Banana Pudding Brownies
All the flavor of a banana pudding, but make it brownies! A rich, tender, delicious blondie is layered with a creamy banana pudding topping, finished with a classic vanilla wafer. Perfect for the next gathering or any time you’re craving classic banana pudding… but with an even more delicious twist!
🍌 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- Banana pudding brownies are a super fun, super delicious, super easy twist on classic banana pudding. They’re chewy and moist and rich, with a creamy layer of banana pudding on top. If you like banana cream pie, these are even better – the crust is thicker and more decadent, and they’re in bar form which is more fun and unique.
- OK, yes, technically these banana pudding brownies aren’t actually brownies. There’s no chocolate in the brownie layer, making them more of a banana pudding blondies instead. We didn’t test these with cocoa added to the blondie mix, but if you’re craving a chocolate and banana dessert bar, stir in some milk or dark chocolate chips before transferring the brownie batter to the baking dish.
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- Instead of using whole vanilla wafers on top of your banana pudding bars, try it with crumbled vanilla wafers instead. That gives the brownies more of a crumble-y, streusel-y topping that’s more even across the whole dish, rather than having cookies in some bites and not in others. Just don’t crumble them too finely, or you’ll lose some of that crunch.
- The type of pan you use will make a difference in your overall cook time. Food in metal pans typically bakes faster than food in glass or ceramic pans. The age of your oven and the altitude of your kitchen will affect things, too, so be sure to adjust as needed!
- To get the flavors and textures just right, your eggs and your cream cheese absolutely must be at room temperature before you get started. If the cream cheese is even the slightest bit cold, the pudding layer will curdle in the oven. Definitely not the result we’re going for here.
🧁 More Dessert Recipes You’ll Love
- Banana Pudding Cups
- 4 Ingredient Banana Bread
- Pineapple Casserole
- Vanilla Brownies with Buttercream Frosting
- Banana Custard
- Mochi Brownies
- 3-Ingredient Chocolate Truffles
- Strawberry Banana Cheesecake Salad
- Chewy Butterscotch Cookies
- Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt Bark
Banana Pudding Brownies
Creamy, classic banana pudding… spread on top of a decadent blondie layer and topped with a classic vanilla wafer!
Recipe Makes: brownies
Approximate Cost: $8.20 ($0.55 per brownie)
Equipment
- oven
- 9×13 baking dish
- parchment paper
- microwave-safe bowl
- microwave
- large mixing bowl
- whisk
- medium mixing bowl
- mixing spoon (or silicone spatula)
- stand mixer (or hand mixer)
- stand mixer bowl (or large mixing bowl)
Ingredients
For the Blondie Layer
- 1 cup unsalted butter (226 grams)
- 1 ¼ cups, packed brown sugar (250 grams)
- ½ cup white sugar (100 grams)
- 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 large egg yolk (at room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (285 grams)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the Banana Pudding Layer
- 8 ounces cream cheese (at room temperature)
- 1 3.4-ounce box banana cream instant pudding mix
- 3 large eggs
- 15 vanilla wafers (plus more as desired)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Line 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper. Leave excess parchment paper slightly hanging over sides of baking dish, to help release brownies from dish after baking.
For the Blondie Layer
- Place butter in microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments, stirring between each, until butter is melted but not boiling.
- Add melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar to large mixing bowl. Whisk vigorously until ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Once combined, add 2 large eggs, 1 large egg yolk, and vanilla extract to bowl. Whisk until ingredients are fully incorporated into sugar mixture. Set bowl aside.
- Add flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt to medium mixing bowl. Stir or whisk to blend dry ingredients thoroughly.
- Working in gradual increments, add dry mixture into bowl with sugar mixture, stirring well after each addition to fully combine ingredients. Continue until all of dry mixture has been incorporated into wet mixture.
- Transfer prepared blondie batter to prepared baking dish. Spread batter out to cover entire surface of baking dish, making sure batter reaches all 4 corners of pan.
- Place baking dish in preheated oven. Bake, uncovered, 15 minutes or until edges of blondie layer are slightly set. Once edges are slightly set, remove baking dish from oven and set aside to cool 5 to 10 minutes.
For the Banana Pudding Layer
- While blondie layer bakes and cools, add room-temperature cream cheese and box of banana pudding mix to stand mixer bowl. Use stand mixer (or hand mixer) to whip ingredients together until fully combined, approximately 1 to 2 minutes on high speed.
- Once cream cheese mixture is smooth and fully combined, add 3 large eggs one by one. After adding each egg, beat mixture on low speed until egg is just incorporated before adding next egg.
- Once all eggs are fully incorporated and blondie layer has cooled, pour pudding mixture on top of blondie layer. Spread pudding mixture out into one even layer, covering blondies completely and reaching all 4 corners of baking dish.
- Place vanilla wafers on top of banana pudding layer in 3 rows of 5 cookies.
- Return baking dish to oven. Bake 20 minutes then begin checking doneness. Continue baking, checking brownies every 2 to 3 minutes, until pudding layer is mostly set and only slightly jiggly in center of pan. Note: depending on your oven and the type of pan you use, this step may take 20 to 30 minutes total.
- Carefully remove baked banana pudding brownies from oven and set baking dish aside. Let brownies cool completely.
To Serve
- When brownies are completely cooled, use excess parchment paper to lift brownies out of baking dish. Cut sheet of brownies into 15 squares and serve.
Notes
- The brownies may be a little soft when they first come out of the oven, but they’ll firm up as they cool. To avoid pudding running, be sure brownies are completely cool before slicing and serving.
- Eggs: Eggs must be at room temperature to get the right textures and results.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese must be at room temperature. Even cool cream cheese will cause the pudding to curdle in the oven.
- Leftovers: Refrigerate leftover brownies in an airtight container up to 4 days. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Recipe costs provided are approximate. Actual cost per recipe & serving will vary by location, store, brand, etc. Approximate cost shown does not include costs for any optional ingredients.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 banana pudding brownie | Calories: 375kcal | Protein: 7g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 425mg | Potassium: 122mg | Total Carbs: 52g | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 33g | Net Carbs: 51g | Calcium: 95mg
Nutrition Disclaimer
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes. Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used. To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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