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 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
- Vanilla Wafer Cookies, crushed
- Butter, melted
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- White Sugar
- Banana Cream Pudding Mix <– can use vanilla pudding mix, if desired
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- White Chocolate Chips
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:
Grab your free printable for our banana pudding cookie bars recipe:
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.
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
- Preheat your oven to 400F
- 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" x 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 white chocolate chips and the 1 cup reserved vanilla wafers. Spoon the mixture onto the pre-baked crust. (See baking note.)
- 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).
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1Amount 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.
Check out these other delicious cookie recipes from my fellow bloggers:
- Cherry and Chocolate Chip Scones from Spiceroots
- Chocolate Andes Mint Chip Cookies from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Chocolate Stout and Pretzel Cookies from Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt
- Flourless Dark Chocolate Espresso Oatmeal Cookies from Rhubarb and Honey
- Gourmet Iced Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Lemon Bits Oatmeal Cookies from Our Good Life
- Nutty Bits Cookies from Basic N Delicious
- Peanut Butter Chunk Cookies from Noshing With The Nolands
- Rocky Road Cookies from Upstate Ramblings
- Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies from Magnolia Days
- Uncle Hector’s 100 Cookies from Food Lust People Love
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Original picture from 2015:
Renee says
Must. Make. These. MUST.
Kimberly says
My hubby is a huge banana pudding fan … I think these will be making an appearance in our house soon!
Ansh says
These sound like a party of flavors. My faorite flavors!
Holly says
I like the sound of these! The wafer crust layered with the pudding layer sounds divine.
Tara says
Be still my heart, I am in love, these look fantastic and I adore banana anything!!
Karen @ Karen's Kitchen Stories says
I love the idea of using pudding mix. I’ve used it in shortbread and it’s great! Your bars sound amazing!
Stacy says
What a great idea! Banana pudding that’s easily transportable! Those bars look lovely, Jennifer!
Hezzi-D says
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.
sarah says
OMG my family is going to LOVE you for this!
Lanae Bond says
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!
Joanna @ Everyday Made Fresh says
These look delicious! I love banana pudding and banana pudding ice cream, so know that I would love it in bar form!
Laura@Baking in Pyjamas says
Oh my, how I wish we had those ingredients here in the UK as I would just LOVE to make them, they look so crumbly and buttery, yum!
Jennifer Tammy says
You know, if they had a Banana Angel Delight, that would be a perfect substitute… but I don’t think they do?
Mary says
Hello – I have a question. Is the butter in step 4 melted or softened?
Thanks for your help!
Jennifer Tammy says
Softened – I’m sorry, I wasn’t very clear in that recipe. (This was written when I was very new to food blogging!)
Jessica says
banana pudding bars is really awesome in taste and everyone can make at home without knowing any skills.
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