Blast From the Past - Banana Split Dessert For a Girls Get Together

Once a month I get together with seven other women for what is suppose to be a scrapbook crop. To be honest we do scrapbook a little, eat a lot and talk even more...It's a glorious day of girl time!

So that no one person is burdened with the responsibility for all the food we rotate turns. This month it's my turn to bring dessert. I knew I wanted something cool since we're already experiencing summer time temperatures. So I Googled 'summer desserts' and I was pleasantly surprised when Banana Split Dessert was among the many choices. This dessert was very popular when I was a newly wed and it seems everyone had their own variation. It's been years since I've had it but I remembered it was yummy! It is cool and refreshing. I knew I this would be the perfect dessert to share with the girls.

Everyone seems to have their own variation of this dish but it's so simple you might not even need a recipe. Take a graham cracker crust, add a creamy filling, top with pineapple, banana and strawberries and finished it off with whipped cream, a few drizzles of chocolate and chopped nuts. 

Simple and so good!

Recipe

Recipe will make a 13 x 9 inch pan

Crust

2 cups crushed grahams crackers

1/4 cup melted butter

2 Tablespoons sugar

Mix all the ingredients and press in to the bottom of pan. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

Filling

(The Triple Sec adds a little something extra to the filling but you can easily omit it if you're serving children or you just don't want to use alcohol.)

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar 

2 - 3 Tablespoons Triple Sec (Orange Liqueur) optional

2 teaspoons vanilla

8 ounce container whipped topping (Cool Whip)

With a mixer cream together the cream cheese, sugar, Triple Sec (if using) and vanilla until fluffy. Gently fold in the whipped topping. 

Spoon the filling over the graham cracker crust and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Topping

5 - 6 bananas, sliced

20 ounce can crushed pineapple (in juice) drained

2 cups sliced strawberries

8 ounce container whipped topping (Cool Whip)
1 cup chopped pecans (or whatever is your favorite nut)
Chocolate syrup or Hershey's Shell Topping

Drain the pineapple. Slice the bananas into the pineapple juice. This will help them to not turn brown.

With a slotted spoon remove the bananas from the juice and place them in an even layer of the cream cheese filling.
 Cover the bananas with the pineapple and a layer of strawberries. Cover the fruit with the whipped topping, cover with chopped nuts and drizzle on the chocolate.

To serve add a little whipped topping and a cherry on top. Enjoy!



Something I always do when I make a dessert to take somewhere is to make a little extra for my family. So I increased the recipe a little bit and made a loaf pan to leave at home. They must have enjoyed it because this is what I found when I got back after my girls day out.

If you're looking for a no bake summery dessert you might want to give this a try.

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