Banana Cream Pie Cookies

Have you  heard about the pudding cookie phenomenon?  I have seen this type of cookie, in lots of different flavor combos, showing up all over the interwebz.  Basically you can add any flavor of instant pudding mix that you want into your cookie dough batter and it promises to result in a super delicious, chewy cookie with a burst of whatever flavor pudding you pick.  Awhile back I tried adding vanilla pudding mix to my standard chocolate chip cookies, which was excellent, but this recipe takes it to a whole new level.  Believe it or not, these cookies taste exactly like banana cream pie.

A few months ago, I was looking for a banana baked good recipe of some kind for my brother-in-law's birthday since he loooves banana. So, I decided I wanted to try to find a cookie recipe because everyone loves cookies for their birthday.  At first I was skeptical of the thought because normally, I am not a huge fan of banana flavored food (other than my oh so delicious banana bread) so I wasn't sure how banana cookies would turn out.  After a while of looking and seeing a lot of healthy banana and flax seed type cookies I was disappointed and was about to start looking for other ideas.  Then the thought of banana cream pie popped into my head.  I started googling and this wonderful recipe appeared in  my results.  As soon as I read that it was a pudding cookie, I knew that I couldn't go wrong here.  

The cookies turned out amazing.  My brother-in-law and his family thought they were delicious and even as non-banana lovers, K and I both thought these cookies were great.   The cookie dough plus the white chocolate chips tastes exactly like banana cream pie custard and these would not be complete without the graham cracker pieces to resemble the pie's traditional graham cracker crust.  As an added benefit, banana cream pie in cookie form is much more portable than a slice of pie and these cookies come together much faster too.  If you are banana fan, you must give these cookies a try soon!

Banana Cream Pie Cookies
Inspired by Like Mother Like Daughter

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 small box (3.4oz) instant banana cream pudding mix
1 1/2 cup white chocolate or vanilla chips
4 honey or cinnamon graham crackers, crushed in small pieces

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl cream together the butter and both kinds of sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined.  Carefully stir in the flour, salt, baking soda, and dry pudding mix until fully incorporated.  Mix in the white chocolate chips and graham cracker pieces, reserving some of the chips to top the cookies when they are removed from the oven, if desired.  Spoon tablespoon size (I like using something like this scoop) balls of the cookie dough onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 9-10 minutes. When you remove the cookies from the oven, you can top with a few additional white chips for a cute look, but completely not necessary.  Remove cookies to cooling rack and let cool completely.  Store for 3-4 days in air tight containers.

Enjoy!