Question Re: Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

[Vancouver Lori]

I want to make Paula Deen's Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding, but have a couple questions:

1) I can't find instant French Vanilla Pudding, so any problem subbing just Vanilla Pudding? Anything I can add (other than vanilla beans) to make vanilla pudding French vanilla pudding?

2) The recipe calls for a 5 oz. box of pudding, which I also can't find, so should I use five 1 oz. packages?

3) The recipe calls for only 2 cups of milk (for the 5 oz. package of pudding), but my 1 oz. package of pudding also calls for 2 cups of milk. Does the sweetened condensed milk, cool whip, and cream cheese compensate for the missing liquid (milk)? Or is this pudding suppose to be way thicker than regular pudding?

I'm so confussed !

[Julzer]

I want to make Paula Deen's Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding, but have a couple questions:

1) I can't find instant French Vanilla Pudding, so any problem subbing just Vanilla Pudding? Anything I can add (other than vanilla beans) to make vanilla pudding French vanilla pudding?

2) The recipe calls for a 5 oz. box of pudding, which I also can't find, so should I use five 1 oz. packages?

3) The recipe calls for only 2 cups of milk (for the 5 oz. package of pudding), but my 1 oz. package of pudding also calls for 2 cups of milk. Does the sweetened condensed milk, cool whip, and cream cheese compensate for the missing liquid (milk)? Or is this pudding suppose to be way thicker than regular pudding?

I'm so confussed !

Lori,
To help answer your questions....

1) I couldn't find French vanilla pudding either and used regular vanilla pudding without adding anything else to it....came out fine.

2) If you can't find 5oz boxes of pudding, then I would go ahead and use (5) 1oz boxes.

3) Still follow Paula's directions on the milk. The pudding is pretty thick but comes out nicely. If you followed your pudding pkg then you would have 10 cups of milk and a big mess. Stick with the 2 cups.

Hope this helps!! Enjoy the pudding...it goes fast!

[CookieCarol]

Are your pudding mixes Sugar Free????
That will make a difference in the consistency, this recipe is made for using regular pudding mix.

[patissac]

I agree with everything Julerz said. Stick to the milk in the recipe, the pudding/custard will be rather thick but not as thick as your thinking.

I also used just regular vanilla pudding. I'd stay away from the sugar free kind though.

I really liked this pudding but found it very sweet, then again that didn't stop me from eating it It will also keep very well the next day too!

[valchemist]

your boxes are so light because they are sugar free. if you use 5 of them it will be way too much. I would go ahead and use the sugar free if that is what you have. just use 1 box, not 5.

[Vancouver Lori]

Thanks everyone ... Yes, I was planning to use the Sugar Free-Fat Free Pudding mix, as well as skim milk, skim sweetened condensed milk, neufchatel cheese, and cool-whip free. It is probably heresy to try to lighten a Paula Deen recipe, but I can't help myself. Even with these changes, this will not be a low-calorie desert!

I will go back to the store and check for regular (not sf/ff) french vanilla pudding in a 5 oz. package. There may not be much difference in the calorie count between the two.

I personally like the sf/ff jello pudding mixes (especially the chocolate fudge ), and always sub neufchatel cheese for cream cheese, so I don't think my taste buds would object to those changes.

[peachesncream]

I've made Paula's banana pudding using French Vanilla pudding mix and plain vanilla pudding mix - and we like the plain vanilla a lot better. The French Vanilla is overly sweet and tastes icky to me. It's also harder to find.