Banana Pudding Cookie Bar Recipe (with Video)

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A delicious take on banana pudding, these Banana Pudding Cookie Bars have been a favorite recipe on our site since 2015. They have all of the flavor a classic banana pudding – without the mess! Perfect for parties, summer BBQs, or just a decadent dessert anytime.

Banana Pudding Cookie Bars are a fun twist on a classic banana pudding recipe in a convenient, easy-to-serve bar. Graham cracker crust, white chocolate chips and a gooey banana pudding center - the perfect summer dessert for your BBQ or summer party

Banana Pudding Cookie Bars Recipe

Banana pudding is one of those desserts that you have to try to see what all of the fuss is about.

Creamy and rich vanilla pudding with a subtle and natural banana flavour, often served with soft wafer cookies and fresh banana slices – banana pudding is just as humble-looking as it’s roots, but its simple appearance belies it’s truly delicious and decadent nature.

While I love an old-fashioned banana pudding, this month, I wanted to figure out how to make banana pudding a little more portable and a little less messy.

These banana pudding cookie bars definitely fit the bill!

This recipe uses Magnolia Bakery’s infamous banana pudding – and its use of boxed vanilla pudding mix and sweetened condensed milk as a base – as our inspiration for a simple recipe that delivers big taste. (You can find their original recipe in their Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.)

Along with vanilla pudding mix, this recipe also uses vanilla wafer cookies to give a great, chewy, crumbly texture to the banana pudding bars, and I added Ghiradelli white chocolate chips, because I put them in anything I can get away with!

Part of the “trick” to a great cookie bar recipe is to twice bake the “crust” like you would with a pie.

So for this recipe, I mixed melted butter with some of the crushed vanilla wafer cookies and pushed it into a lined 9″x13″ baking dish and baked that for 5 minutes while I created the top “layer.” This gives the cookie bars a solid base so they don’t completely fall apart in your hands, without overcooking the rest of the bar which would make it way too hard to eat.

These bars are still a bit crumbly and soft, but still way easier to eat and serve at a party than banana pudding.

I honestly don’t know who loves these bars more – me or the kids! The awesome thing about making them into bars rather than traditional cookies is that I can control the portion sizes a bit easier — bigger for me, smaller for them!

You can also freeze these banana pudding cookie bars by wrapping them tightly (with plastic wrap, foil or beeswax wraps) and then storing in airtight freezer bags or freezer containers for up to two months. (This set of freezer containers is a crazy bargain.)

We’ve made these recipes two ways – mixing the vanilla wafers and white chocolate chips into the pudding mixture, and also using the vanilla wafers-chocolate chips mixture as a third, final layer to the cookie bars. The bars are delicious both ways but I think I enjoy them more with three layers (as shown in the video). It provides more variety of texture with a gooey, chewy center and crunchy bottoms of tops of the cookie bars. Experiment and see which version of the recipe you like more!

Check out our quick video for how to make Banana Pudding Cookie Bars – and then don’t forget to scroll down to grab our free printable recipe!

 

Banana Pudding Cookie Bar Ingredients

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Tip: this recipe will work with different flavor combinations – like, chocolate cookie crumbs and vanilla pudding filling, etc.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

  • Measuring Cups and Spoons
  • Wooden spoon or spatula <– I like these spatulas because they are one solid piece and don’t have removable heads for bacteria to get trapped underneath. Plus they are heat-resistant and have a lifetime warranty.
  • Electric mixer <– this is a great hand mixer if you don’t want to make the investment into a stand mixer
  • 9″ x 13″ casserole dish <– I love these Pyrex dishes with fitted lids – they are great for taking along to parties

How to Make Banana Cookie Bars

Preheat your oven to 400ºF

Crush the wafers and set aside 1 cup for the top layer of the cookie bars.

Mix the remaining wafers with 3/4 cups melted butter, and press into the bottom of a 9*13″ baking dish. Bake for 5 minutes while preparing the next layer.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and pudding mix. Mix in the eggs, remaining 1 cup butter, and the vanilla extract until fully incorporated.

Stir in the chocolate chips and the reserved vanilla wafers. Spoon the mixture onto the pre-baked crust.

Bake the bars at 350ºF for about 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bars comes out clean.

Pin this Banana Pudding Cookie Recipe:

How to make banana pudding cookie bars, a simple cookie bar recipe with all of the flavors of a delicious banana pudding - without the mess!

Grab your free printable recipe card for our banana pudding cookie bars recipe:

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Yield: 16 bars

Banana Pudding Bars

Banana Pudding Bars

A decadent and chewy cookie bar that has all of the flavor of a banana pudding, in a portable and easy-to-serve format.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces Vanilla Wafers, crushed
  • 1 ¾ cup Butter
  • 2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 1-3.4oz package of Banana Cream Pudding Mix
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1 cup White Chocolate Chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 400F
  2. Crush the wafers and set aside 1 cup for the top layer of the cookie bars.
  3. Mix the remaining wafers with 3/4 cups melted butter, and press into the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish. Bake for 5 minutes while preparing the next layer.
  4. Stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and pudding mix. Mix in the eggs, remaining 1 cup butter, and the vanilla extract until fully incorporated.
  5. Stir in the white chocolate chips and the 1 cup reserved vanilla wafers. Spoon the mixture onto the pre-baked crust. (See baking note.)
  6. Bake the bars at 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bars comes out clean.

Notes

Alternatively, you can press the flour-baking soda-salt-sugar-pudding mixture as a second layer, and use the vanilla wafer and white chocolate chips as a third and final layer (as seen in the video).

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

16

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 472Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 79mgSodium: 422mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 1gSugar: 27gProtein: 5g

Sugar, Spice and Glitter uses an auto-generate nutrition calculator. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate unless analyzed in a scientific lab, so these should be considered more of a guideline than medical information.

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A unique cookie bar recipe perfect for summer, these Banana Pudding Cookie bars are a delicious square recipe to make with the kids and perfect for summer parties  Banana Pudding Cookie Bars are a fun twist on a classic banana pudding recipe in a convenient, easy-to-serve bar. Graham cracker crust, white chocolate chips and a gooey banana pudding center - the perfect summer dessert for your BBQ or summer party  How to make banana pudding cookie bars, a simple cookie bar recipe with all of the flavors of a delicious banana pudding - without the mess!  A unique cookie bar recipe perfect for summer, these Banana Pudding Cookie bars are a delicious square recipe to make with the kids and perfect for summer partiesBanana Pudding Cookie Bars are a fun twist on a classic banana pudding recipe in a convenient, easy-to-serve bar. Graham cracker crust, white chocolate chips and a gooey banana pudding center - the perfect summer dessert for your BBQ or summer party  How to make banana pudding cookie bars, a simple cookie bar recipe with all of the flavors of a delicious banana pudding - without the mess!

Original picture from 2015:

Banana Pudding Cookie Bars - a yummy and kid-friendly twist on this easy snack recipe, cookie bars are the perfect easy dessert recipe

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41 Comments

  1. These sound wonderful! I love banana pudding and mixed with white chocolate it sounds great. I bet you could substitute other pudding flavor as well.

  2. I have heard a banana pudding poke cake before but I never heard of in banana pudding bar! I think it is a great idea but I am a little biased because I love banana pudding period!

  3. Your recipe calls for a 9×13 pan but the video shows 8×8. Are the ingredients listed enough for the larger pan or do I need to double the recipe?

    1. Hi Sue,
      The ingredients listed will yield a 9″ x 13″ pan. I didn’t have enough Nilla wafers when I went to make the recipe video so I halved it for the video. I hope you love it!

  4. When I went to film the recipe, I didn’t have enough Nilla wafers, so I cut the amount in half. Hope you enjoy it!

  5. I like your recipe very much and like the videos of your recipe are available in this blog. I will try to make this recipe at home after watching this video.

  6. Made these tonight…amazing! I made a change tho…a tiny one really. Instead of 2 eggs, I substituted 1/2 cup of mashed banana…gave it the banana flavor it was needing without it being artificial tasting. They turned out beautifully and are simply perfect!!

  7. I love your banana pudding cookie bar recipe and will try to make it at home. And I hope I can make you a good one.

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