Grandma Mary's Banana Pudding

The other day I asked my sister if she had a recipe she'd share with me. I wanted a dessert....and I wanted it to be something I hadn't made.

My sister lives in Alabama, so for me this would be a total blind recipe. Never tasted, never seen.

She told me about Grandma Mary's Banana Pudding.

Nope...we don't have a grandma named Mary. I don't even think we have a relative named Mary. But there was a real Grandma Mary.

She lived next door (read 1/2 mile away) from my parents. I had the pleasure of meeting Grandma Mary a few short times but for my little sisters, she was like a grandmother. Just a sweet, darling little lady. Southern through and through and this recipe is one of hers.

Let me tell you....this is not like any banana pudding you've ever had.

If it is, then thats only because you've had this very same one before and you will be able to confirm that this is one fantastic dessert.

There aren't a whole lot of ingredients. It's not difficult at all. But I have to warn you...what sets this apart from the others is the coconut topping. And that takes a bit of time.

but WAY worth it!!!

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups coconut flakes
2 packages 3.5 oz vanilla pudding mix (pair according to package instructions)
6 bananas
1 16 oz container cool whip

Preheat oven to 300' F

In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, butter and coconut

I started out using a fork to mix this up and ended up using my hands. It makes a doughy blob which would be kinda messy in a mixer.

Take that blob and crumble it as best you can into a shallow roasting pan. Bake for about 45 minutes. During the baking process, say....every 10 minutes or so, stir, mash, and crumble the mixture with a spatula. This will accomplish two things

1. Prevent the mixture from turning into a cake
2. Create nice toasty, golden brown crumbles...which is what you want the end result to be

Have you pre-paired the pudding? Cuz you're gonna need it

In a 13 x 9 casserole dish, take about 2/3 of the coconut crumbs and put them on the bottom of the dish. Carefully spread the pudding over the crumbs. Slice the bananas and cover the pudding with the slices....spread the cool whip over the bananas and then sprinkle the remaining coconut crumbs over the cool whip.

Put into the fridge to set and enjoy!!

My oldest daughter told me...."Mom, I don't LIKE pudding". Ok dear. Whatever you say.

10 minutes later she's going back for seconds. Apparently "this is pretty good for pudding".

Just so ya know...It would be very simple to cut the recipe in half and make an 8x8 dish. I'll do that next time. (half of this went to work today so I wouldn't be eating it all week)

Also....I'll probably make my own vanilla pudding from scratch the next time I make it. I'm not saying it wasn't good as is...cuz this stuff is waaaay good. But come on...homemade pudding? I knoooooow!!! I thought about making my own whipped cream but I don't know if it has lasting power the way cool whip does. Right?

Oh...and if you're tempted to use banana pudding......be my guest. I personally can't do the "banana flavor" thing. Trust me...with all those banana slices, you get plenty of real banana flavor!