Ingredients
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
- 1 1/4 cup sugar, divided
- Pinch of salt
- 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 16-ounce carton cool whip, divided
- 3 bananas, sliced
- 1 20-ounce can pineapple in heavy syrup, drained well
- 2 pints strawberries, sliced
- Chopped nuts
- Chocolate syrup
- Maraschino cherries
Preparation
Step 1
Mix together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, 1/4 cup sugar and salt then press into the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Whip cream cheese, vanilla extract and remaining 1 cup of sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Fold in 1 cup of cool whip. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over graham cracker crust. Make sure your cream cheese is good and soft or you'll have a hard time spreading the mixture over the graham cracker crust.
Arrange banana slices in a single layer over cream cheese mixture. Top bananas evenly with crushed pineapple. Arrange strawberry slices in a single layer over pineapple. Spread remaining cool whip over dessert. Make sure to go all the way to the edges with the cool whip – this will seal things up so the bananas don’t brown. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.
To serve, sprinkle with nuts, drizzle with chocolate syrup and top with cherries.