6. Garnish the top: Crush the last handful of vanilla wafers with your fingers and sprinkle them over the top for a pretty, crunchy finish.
7. Chill and serve: Cover the tray tightly with foil or its lid and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving, or up to 4 hours. This gives the cookies time to soften slightly and lets the flavors blend. Scoop into bowls or onto plates and enjoy straight from the tin foil tray.
For a little extra flavor without adding more ingredients, you can choose banana-flavored or vanilla-flavored whipped topping if your store carries it. If you have picky eaters who don’t love a lot of banana texture, slice the bananas very thin and tuck them into the middle layer so they’re less noticeable, or use slightly firmer bananas so they hold their shape. For more crunch, leave most of the cookies whole and only crush a few for the topping. If you’re making this for very young kids, you can lightly crush all the cookies so the dessert is softer and easier to eat with a spoon. To stretch the recipe for a larger crowd, use a bigger tin foil tray and simply add more cookies and bananas while keeping the same idea of layering cookies, bananas, and whipped topping. And if you want to dress it up for a special occasion, right before serving you can add a quick drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce over the top, or tuck a few whole cookies along the edges of the tray for a simple, pretty border.
