Easy Banana Pudding Pie with Cream Cheese Crust

I took Michael to Bonaventure Cemetery this week. Not on a sad day — on a Tuesday, a regular Tuesday, a let-me-show-my-great-grandson-where-his-grandfather-sleeps Tuesday. Denise drove. Michael sat in his car seat eating crackers and making sounds that were probably commentary on the scenery but could have been about the crackers. With Michael, everything could be about the crackers.

Bonaventure is beautiful in November. The live oaks are still green — they're always green, that's why they're live oaks — and the Spanish moss hangs from the branches like the hair of something ancient and patient. The azaleas are dormant but the camellias are blooming, pink and white against the gray of the headstones. It is the most beautiful cemetery in the world, and I am biased but I am also right.

I carried Michael to Earl's stone. He's heavy now — fourteen months, solid, the kind of weight that makes your arms ache and your heart full. I set him on my hip and I stood in front of the stone and I said, "Earl, this is Michael. Devon's boy. He has your eyes — through Amara, through Marcus, through Earl Jr., through you. The eyes came down the line. He also has my appetite, which you would find amusing and also expensive."

Michael looked at the stone. He reached for it. His hand — small, fat, perfect — touched the stone where Earl's name is carved. EARL HENDERSON. 1953-2019. BELOVED. Michael's fingers traced the letters, not because he could read them but because he is a baby and babies touch everything, and I chose to believe — I will always choose to believe — that the touching was a meeting. A handshake. A great-grandson meeting a great-grandfather through granite and time and the love that doesn't end when the breathing does.

"Nah," Michael said to the stone. "That's right, baby," I said. "That's your Granddaddy Earl. He says nah back."

Denise was crying in the car when we got back. She'd been watching from the path. She said, "Mama, that was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." I said, "Denise, I just introduced a baby to a headstone." She said, "You introduced a future to a past." She's right. That's exactly what I did.

Made Earl's coconut cake tonight. Not for a holiday. Not for a dinner. For a Tuesday. For a meeting at a headstone. For a future that touched a past and said "nah."

Now go on and feed somebody.

Earl’s coconut cake wasn’t on my list for tonight — but after standing at that headstone watching Michael’s little hand trace those letters, I needed to make something that felt like him, something that said somebody loved somebody here. This banana pudding pie is close kin to the kind of dessert Earl would have gotten quiet over at the table, fork moving slow, not wanting it to end. It’s simple and it’s sweet and it asks nothing of you but time — and a Tuesday, it turns out, is exactly the right day to make it.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 4 hrs 30 min (includes chilling) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the crust:
2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (about 60 wafers, crushed)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
For the filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups cold whole milk
2 packages (3.4 oz each) instant banana pudding mix
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
For topping:
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 banana, sliced (for garnish)
Crushed vanilla wafers, for garnish

Instructions

Make the crust. In a medium bowl, mix vanilla wafer crumbs, softened cream cheese, melted butter, and sugar until the mixture resembles damp sand and holds together when pressed. Press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up.
Prepare the pudding base. In a large bowl, beat the 8 oz cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar and beat until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides.
Add pudding. Pour in the cold milk and both packages of instant banana pudding mix. Beat on medium speed for 2–3 minutes until thickened. Mix in the vanilla extract.
Fold in whipped topping. Gently fold 2 cups of whipped topping into the pudding mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined — don’t overwork it. You want it light.
Layer the bananas. Arrange the banana slices in an even layer over the chilled crust, covering the bottom completely.
Fill the pie. Spoon the cream cheese pudding mixture over the banana layer and smooth the top with the spatula.
Top and chill. Spread the remaining 1 cup of whipped topping over the filling. Garnish with fresh banana slices and a handful of crushed vanilla wafers. Cover loosely and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Serve. Slice cold and serve straight from the refrigerator. Best eaten the day it’s made, before the bananas darken — though in this house it never lasts that long anyway.

Nutrition (per serving)

Easy Banana Pudding Pie with Cream Cheese Crust — Sweet Enough for a Tuesday That Mattered