Banana Pudding Cupcakes

Banana Pudding Cupcakes (4 ounces) cream cheese (7 ounces) sweetened condensed milk (1/2 a can) (3 ounce) package of INSTANT vanilla pudding 1 1/2 cup cold milk 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 (8 ounce) containers cool whip, thawed. 2 Bananas, sliced. Vanilla wafer cookies ----------------- 1 (16 - 18 ounce) box of yellow cake mix 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup white sugar 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/3 cup water 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup sour cream 2 large eggs First you'll want to make the banana pudding. This can be done the same day or a day or two ahead of time. In a medium bowl, with a hand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Slowly beat in the sweetened condensed milk a little at a time. By adding it slowly you'll prevent cream cheese clumps and your mixture will be smoother. Add your instant pudding and mix until smooth. Slowly add milk 1/2 cup at a time, mixing between each addition. Again, adding it slowly will prevent clumps. In a separate bowl blend 1/4 tub of cool whip with beaters until smooth. You can use the same beaters, no need to clean them. Slowly add 1/2 cup of banana pudding to cool whip bowl, mixing well. Add 1/2 cup more mixing well and then finally all of your banana pudding mixture to cool whip mixture. Again by adding slowly you are avoiding clumps. Once fully blended, put in fridge. Now make your cupcakes! Preheat oven to 325*F Line your cupcake pan with liners. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, combine cake mix, flour, sugar and salt. Blend. With mixer on, slowly add water, oil, vanilla, sour cream and eggs. Blend until smooth. Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full. I find a large cookie scoop works great! Bake for 16 - 18 minutes, a toothpick test should show a dry toothpick upon removing it from center of cupcake. Allow to cool 5 minutes in pan then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Once completely cool, it's time to fill! Fill a piping bag with a piping tip, with banana pudding. If you do not have a piping bag or piping tip, then you'll want to gently hollow out the center of each cupcake. Save your cupcake nubs. Do not go all the way to the bottom. Only 1/2 way down. If using a piping bag, push tip into center of the cupcake and gently squeeze. Only push until piping tip is in the cupcake. Do not push to the bottom of the cupcake. Cupcake should puff out a bit as it fills. Remove piping bag from cupcake and repeat to all other cupcakes, cleaning tip as needed. If not using a piping bag, then gently fill each hole you've created with banana pudding. Slice 1 banana in to slices, then cut each slice in half. Push one half of a sliced banana into the banana pudding. If you cut holes, place cupcake numb or crumbs on top to prevent pudding from squeezing out when picked up. Open thawed but cold cool whip and place in a new piping bag or a freezer Ziploc type bag. Snip tip. Pipe cool whip onto cupcake. DO NOT MIX cool whip before piping. It will melt in seconds on your cupcake. Top each cupcake with a vanilla wafer.