Have you been to Magnolia Bakery in New York City? I remember the first time walking through Greenwich Village to a small little bakery tucked away in a bohemian part of town. The sights are amazing; I mean you can see the Freedom Tower, but the array of cheesecake, cake, cookies, is simply amazing. However, the one thing that takes the cake (and cheesecake and cookies) is Magnolia's banana pudding.

Inspired by Magnolia Bakery, this banana pudding recipe comes as close as possible as making that trip to Greenwich Village, NYC (even if I do say so myself). It's light, creamy texture melts in your mouth and those cake-like bits come as wanted surprise. It's comfort food as it's finest as it's a perfect recipe to share with family during the holidays, but also to hog for yourself as your curl up to a movie.

Happy baking, and let me know in the comments how it all turns out!

Step 1: Ingredients

For this amazing banana pudding, you'll need:

14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of water
3.4 ounces of boxed instant vanilla pudding mix
2 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
2 sliced bananas
12 ounces of Nilla wafers

Step 2: Preparing the Pudding Base

First, using a whisk, combine the sweetened condensed milk and water in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until combined. Then, whisk in the instant vanilla pudding mix, until there are no lumps. Feel free to run this mixture through a strainer. After, cover the bowl in cling wrap and leave in the refrigerator for four hours.

Step 3: Adding the Fillings

Using a whisk or stand mixer, whisk the heavy whipping cream into whipped cream with stiff peaks (see the picture above for how the peaks should look).

Take the pudding that has now set out of the refrigerator. Using a rubber spatula, combine the whipped cream with the set pudding. Make sure this is thoroughly combined.

Break all your Nilla wafers in half. Pour the Nilla wafers and banana slices into the pudding and whipped cream mixture. Combine well.

Place the complete mixture back in the refrigerator overnight. Then, the banana pudding is ready to serve!

Step 4: Finish!

You're done making banana pudding! I love creating a big batch to share with friends and family. I've even bought some mason jars and ribbons to give some banana pudding as gifts. You're bound to get rave reviews :)

This banana pudding has the creamy texture from the actual vanilla pudding, but the whipped creams creates the lightness that allows you to easy binge-eat this recipe (a good thing!). The Nilla wafers are the secrete to the cake-like bits; the wafers are pretty firm in the box, but once they're left in the pudding overnight, the wafers soften, allowing you to smear and scoop them up with your spoon. Honestly, I forget that the bananas are even there :)

Try it out! If you do, be sure to drop a comment below and tell me how it turned out! Happy baking!