Layered Chocolate Banana Pudding Cake

Thank you Weight Watchers for putting together some yummy desserts that I can enjoy and not be all like, "Whah, I'm swearing off chocolate until I drop 5 pounds." Thank you, thank you, thank you! So this is a dish like that - eating something that tastes more sinful than it actually is.  Well, to tell you the truth I fattened it up a little bit by using some Oreos, but that was a total mistake on my part because I didn't have enough of the other cookies (graham crackers) that were preferred.  Oh well. 

I decided to make this dessert today for two reasons.  One: I took a two-hour Ashtanga Yoga class this morning so I worked hard enough to earn this and Two: I had a couple of bananas that were on the verge of not making it and I wanted to use them before having to toss them.  I really don't like wasting food.  It's well... it's a waste! And the other thing is I wanted to try something that required no baking.  I know that's typically a summertime thing, but I felt like doing it now.  Besides, it's getting warm out here...

Before I get into the recipe details, I just want to let you know that this dessert comes from the new (or new-ish, I don't know) special recipe edition of Weight Watchers magazine.  It's Weight Watchers Five Ingredient 15 Minute Recipes.

LAYERED CHOCOLATE BANANA PUDDING CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups 1% low-fat milk

1 (1.4 oz) package sugar-free chocolate instant pudding mix

2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed and divided

11 chocolate graham cracker sheets, divided

3 ripe bananas, sliced

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine milk and pudding mix in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk 2 minutes or until thick.  Let stand 5 minutes. Fold in 1 cup whipped topping.

2. Place 5 graham cracker sheets in the bottom of an 11x7-inch glass or ceramix baking dish.  Spoon one-third of pudding mixture evenly over graham crackers; top with half of bananas.  Spoon another third of pudding mixture over bananas; top with 5 graham cracker sheets.  Spoon remaining third of pudding mixture over graham crackers; top with remaining banana slices.  Spread 1 cup whipped topping over bananas. Crumble remaining graham cracker sheet; sprinkle over whipped topping.  Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1/10 of pudding).

PERSONAL NOTES:

Wow, where can I begin?  This is an easy recipe to follow, let's just start there.  I had it made in about 10-15 minutes.  Seriously. So the special magazine/book where the recipe comes from is telling the trute.  It really is a 15 minute dish.

Then I started deviating a little bit (of course).  When I was at the store the other day looking to buy the graham crackers for the recipe I stopped short when I saw that the box cost almost $5!  That's a little crazy, especially since my husband and I don't normally eat graham crackers.  Although when I mentioned this to him he said I could've made the recipe again.  Sigh.

So in lieu of the graham crackers I purchased a small box of Lorna Doone butter cookies (which I know, it's not chocolate, but I figured they would taste just fine - really).  That was all fine and good except as I was putting the dessert together I quickly realized I wasn't going to have enough cookies for a second layer.  What was I to do on short notice?  Well as it happened, I had a small box of Oreo cookies because I was going to make a different dessert on another day.  So I decided to toss the Oreos in for the second cookie layer.  I know it's not what Weight Watchers had in mind (for the Lorna Doones and the Oreos), but whatever.  So it's not exactly low fat, it's kinda low fat.

As the book states, each serving is only 116 calories! Obviously, the way I made it will have a higher calorie content.  I'm OK with that.