Recipe: Banana Pudding

Last week, this popped up in my Pinterest feed.  Delicious – I haven’t had banana pudding in ages!  You probably already knew this, but I only recently learned that this is a southern dessert.  As such, I’m married to a man who eats a banana every morning but has never had banana pudding.  Obviously, I had no choice but to make a batch for Saturday night dessert!

Traditionally, banana pudding can be served in individual parfait glasses or in a family-style dish and may be topped with whipped cream or meringue.  Most of the time, you see neat layers of pudding, bananas, and vanilla wafers but on occasion, all the ingredients are mixed together and left to sit.

Is your mouth watering yet?  Here’s the recipe (slightly modified from The Jey of Cooking):

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups half and half
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. vanilla
3-4 bananas, sliced
18-20 vanilla wafers
whipped cream, for serving

Directions:
Mix sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg, and salt in a medium saucepan, then whisk in half and half and egg yolks.  Place over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until pudding thickens and begins to boil, 10-15 minutes if half and half is straight from the fridge.  Remove from heat; add butter and vanilla and whisk until blended.  Transfer pudding to a bowl and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours.

Whether preparing individual dishes or a large bowl for a crowd, create several layers of pudding, vanilla wafers (crushed or whole), and bananas.  Top with a little bit of pudding and whipped cream.  Optional garnish: sliced bananas and/or vanilla wafer.  (*Note: This recipe makes enough for two large servings or four small servings).

Image Credit: The Jey of Cooking, Three Many Cooks, Southern Living (3-4)

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