Banana Cream Layer Dessert (No Bake) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

CRUST
2 cups graham wafer crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter or 1/2 cup margarine
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups icing sugar
4 cups cool whip frozen whipped topping, completely thawed, divided
2 -3 medium bananas (don't use very ripe bananas)
1 (135 g) package Jello gelatin, banana cream pudding and pie filling mix (do not use the instant, it must be the cooked kind)
3 cups half-and-half cream

Preparation

Prepare an 11 x 7-inch baking pan.
in a bowl, mix all crust ingredients.
Pat lightly into the baking pan.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, with an electric hand mixer, mix the cream cheese and icing sugar until well blended (about 2 minutes).
Fold in (do not beat) 2 cups Cool Whip thawed topping.
Remove the crust from the fridge; spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the crust.
Return back to the fridge.
(At this point, the dessert may be left covered in the fridge overnight, and the last stage may be finished the next day if desided) Prepare the pudding mix on top of the stove in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, (be careful not to scotch the bottom) or it can be prepared in the microwave, (my prevrence is the microwave, as I always seem to end up with a scortched saucepan bottom) Leave sit in the fridge for 1 hour to thicken and cool.
After 1 hour,slice the bananas into pieces.
Remove the dessert from the fridge; place the banana slices evenly over the cream cheese layer.
Gently spread the prepared pudding over the bananas.
Top with 2 cups (or more) Cool Whip topping.
Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.
Note: do not replace the pudding and pie filling with instant pudding for this dessert, it will not hold up, and will run all over when the dessert is sliced.