Nanner Pudding Cakies

T's mom passed at the beginning of July, last year. We had a rocky start, but she eventually came around to love me (ha!). I love her very much, and I miss her, wish she'd taught me some of her signature recipes. One of those recipes were her Banana Pudding Cookies. Oh. My. G.... They were so delicious, to the point that I could never eat a whole one (she made them nearly 1/2" thick!).

Before Christmas, I was doing some baking for the boys on T's shift at work, and T reminded me of his mom's cookies. I decided that I'd try my hand at those Banana Pudding Cookies once at for all.

Two things to remember:
1. Cakies was not a typo. :) My cookies have always and will always be cake-like. I like them that way.
2. These are my version of Miss Dianne's cookies, not her actual recipe. Still yummy and a good send up, but not the same.

Nanner Pudding Cakies
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder (it's supposed to be soda, but I somehow don't have any!)
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter or margarine, softened (I tend to have my at least half liquid)
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract (we're all fancy with our Madagascar Vanilla)
2 large eggs
2 boxes instant banana cream pudding
2 bananas, slightly overripe and mashed chunky
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, granulated sugar, and pudding.
3. In a smaller bowl, combine wet ingredients: brown sugar, butter, eggs, and milk.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients in larger mixing bowl and fold until wet. If your mixture is too wet and runny, add equal amounts of flour and granulated sugar slowly until you get a better consistency. Add in the bananas.
5. Spoon onto a cookie sheet and toss into the oven (ok, don't "toss". Place gently) for roughly 10-15 minutes. I didn't time mine very well, and wound up having to turn the sheets around halfway-ish through, so keep an eye on your cookies for the first round.

These cakies are not super sweet like you'd expect from cookies, but they're surprisingly addicting AND I think they'd be delicious as the base for a Strawberry Shortcake style dessert.

*This recipe was adapted from the Original Nestle Toll House Milk Chocolate Morsel Cookies recipe listed on the back of my chocolate chip bag.