Pretzel Crust Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients

Crust
¾ cup flour
¾ cup crushed pretzels
5 tbsp butter, room temperature
3 tbsp water

Filling
8 ounces light cream cheese, softened
1 cup whipped topping, plus 2 cups for topping
4 large bananas, sliced right before placing in filling
2 ounces of instant vanilla pudding
4 cups of milk (to make pudding)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400. Place butter and cream cheese out to soften for later.

In a large bowl, combine all crust ingredients with fingers and place in a pie dish or tart pan, pressing into bottom. Bake for 15-20 minutes until hard (it’s difficult to tell when it’s cooked b/c it doesn’t really change color). This is a crumbly crust in the end. Set the crust out to cool completely.

If using Cool Whip, set out to soften. Make pudding as directed; mine required 4 cups of milk and 5 minutes of refrigeration. While that is setting up, slice bananas. Take pudding from the refrigerator and add cream cheese, 1 cup of whipped topping and bananas. Mix well and when crust is cool, place filling over and top with 2 cups of whipped topping and back to the refrigerator it goes for at least an hour. (This is where it should be stored, which is not long in our 2 person household.)