In the South we called this banana puddin’. It was served at EVERY family reunion I ever attended, EVERY church event where food was involved, and EVERY Easter as one of the desserts.
At family reunions, the banana puddings would line the table; rows of banana puddings. Can you imagine such a thing? I remember that I would only eat my mother’s offering. It would have been a clear deviation from family loyalties to have eaten any other banana pudding than my mom’s. Besides, her’s was the prettiest and I had personally already sampled some of it before it ever left the house. Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.
For clarification, when I am talking about banana pudding, I am referring to the beloved layered dessert comprised of vanilla wafers, bananas, pudding, and whipped cream. The phrase “banana pudding” can be confusing because in reality it refers to two completely different desserts. There’s banana pudding which is simply banana flavored pudding. Then there is BANANA PUDDING which is the incredibly delicious, wondrous, heady, layered dessert consisting of vanilla wafers, banana slices, pudding, and whipped cream.
I haven’t had banana pudding in many, many years. Suddenly one day last week I got the urge. It evolved into a need, which quickly became a gotta have it right now! Clearly there was something in my body that needed to have the nutrients from banana pudding.
Yes, I said nutrients because there really are some nutrients in banana pudding. There’s potassium, for one. Potassium is majorly important to muscle function, especially the most important muscle in your body – your heart. Ask a nurse, she’ll give you the low down on potassium and heart function. Ask me, I’m a nurse. Oh, and there’s calcium and vitamin D, too. Calcium and vitamin D = strong bones and teeth. Carbs and protein are in there. The carbs provide quick energy and the protein provides sustained energy and are the building blocks for EVERYTHING in your body. As you can see, there’s lots of nutrition in this dessert.
How to Make Banana Pudding
My mom always used the “cook-n-serve” pudding from a box for the pudding layer of the…pudding. It is a completely respectable thing to do, but I wanted to make my own pudding for this beloved dish. It is actually quite easy and very satisfying and is a great skill to keep in your back pocket. This picture tutorial will help you to visualize the process.
You may want to dip the slices in a little orange juice to keep them from turning brown. Sprinkling them with a product like “Fruit Fresh” also works. However, you can save yourself some work if you are going to be serving the Banana Pudding within a few hours after making it, by leaving the bananas without any treatment. They will typically stay pretty fresh looking, as long as they are not overly ripe.
For individual servings, you will want to crumble the vanilla wafers; they will fit better in the dishes. If you want to assemble the pudding in a single 9- x 9-inch dish, use whole vanilla wafers. For either style of serving, assemble in layers: vanilla wafers, banana slices, pudding, more vanilla wafers, more banana slices, and another layer of pudding. Finish with some whipped cream.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours or up to overnight.
Banana Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons cold butter
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- pinch of salt
- 4 egg yolks, beaten
- 2 cups 1/2 & 1/2
- 1 cup milk, whole, 2%, or 1%
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 48-55 vanilla wafers, crumbled (not crushed)
- 4 bananas, peeled and sliced into scant 1/4″ slices
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
- 1 cup coconut, optional
Instructions
- Cut the butter into small cubes. It works well to cut the butter into tablespoons and then cut the tablespoons into fourths. Return the cut butter to the refrigerator for use later in the recipe.
- In a 2 quart pot, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Make sure that there are no lumps in the cornstarch.
- Stir in the 4 beaten egg yolks until evenly distributed. The mixture may be stiff. Add the half and half and the milk. Whisk well to combine.
- Cook over medium low heat, whisking or stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Add the butter, one piece at a time, stirring until melted before adding the next piece.
- Stir in the vanilla.
- Pour pudding into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic wrap evenly against the top of the pudding. This will keep the pudding from developing a “skin” as it cools. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until pudding has chilled thoroughly.
- Toast the coconut in a 325 degree F oven until golden. Watch carefully, browning happens quickly. Set aside to cool.
- Whip the cream together with the 1 tablespoon sugar until it reaches preferred consistency. I like my whipped cream with a little body, not too soft, but definitely not to the butter stage.
To Assemble:
- For 8 Individual Servings: In 8 small, individual serving dishes, layer the following–coarsely crumbled vanilla wafers, sliced bananas, pudding, crumbled vanilla wafers, sliced bananas, pudding. Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of toasted coconut. Cover and allow to rest in refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours or up to overnight.
- For Single Dish: DO NOT crumble the vanilla wafers. Leave them whole. Place a layer of whole vanilla wafers on the bottom of a 9- x 9-inch dish. Add a layer of 1/2 of the sliced bananas. Cover with half of the pudding. Repeat layers: vanilla wafers, bananas, pudding. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Cover and allow to rest in refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours or up to overnight.
Notes
- For Smooth Pudding. Blending the ingredients together prior to starting the cooking process will help insure a smoother end product. Stirring constantly is important. Don’t leave the pudding unattended or else it will burn and/or be lumpy. The cooking process won’t take more than about 10-15 minutes. The time actually goes quite quickly. My pudding only took 11 well spent minutes.
- About Cooling the Pudding. As pudding cools it forms a “skin” on top. This skin cannot be mixed back into the pudding with good results.The pudding will be lumpy and will have rubbery particles from the skin. To avoid a skin forming, place the plastic wrap right against the warm pudding and up the inside of the bowl. Allow to cool completely in the refrigerator.
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Terri, banana pudding looks great. Just wondering if your recipe can be doubled and tripled. On holidays, i have to cook for up to 24 family and friends. I always do anything except desserts as I don’t enjoy baking. This I can do without baking!
Thanks.
Mary, I have not tried to double or triple the recipe, but I do not see any potential problems with doing so. I am planning on doubling the reccipe when I make it this evening. Thanks for dropping by!
Mary–as a follow-up: I doubled the recipe; no problems.
This is what I think of when someone mentions banana pudding. My family loves it. Your photos is outstanding!! I love how crispy and clean it looks..I feel like I could just pick each flake of coconut right off the top. 🙂 Well done!! Hope you have a fabulous Easter holiday. 🙂
Thanks, Ramona. I just noticed that the response I had written to your comment a couple of days ago didn’t show up. Anyway, thank you for your compliments and your support.
Oh yum, your banana pudding looks so good, it’s making me really hungry!
Thank you, Rosie. It’s always so nice to get compliments. Thanks for taking the time to drop by
Terri,
Banana Pudding is one of my favorites. Your recipe is awesome and thank you so much for sharing it at the table with Full Plate Thursday.
Hope to see you again soon!
Miz Helen
that came out so delicious, way better than instant for sure. I made it yesterday for a party and got many compliments, will do again in the future for sure!
Laura, I’m so glad that this worked well for you. I’m addicted to the pudding…literally craved it. My husband’s eyes lit up when he tasted it, too, because it reminded him of a vanilla sauce that is served over fruit or desserts in Sweden.
Delicious – so much better then the pudding I made last week, but I did have a little problem today. My pudding never firmed up, everyone still licked the bowls, but what do you think I may have done wrong? THX! Liz
Hmmm…Oh dear. This pudding is soft, not quite as thick as pudding from a box mix or the ready-made pudding in the little cups. However, that can be remedied. Here are a couple of thoughts. First, make sure that the pudding is cooked long enough so that there is a noticeable difference in texture. At the end of the cooking time, the pudding ought to be able to well coat a spoon, clinging to the spoon smoothly. Look back at the post at the picture where I am fishing a spoon out of the pudding that I had accidentally dropped into the pudding when I was “tasting”. See how it is coated? The pudding is clinging to the spoon and it did not slide off when I took the spoon out of the pot even though it (the pudding) was still hot. Another suggestion is to add more cornstarch. Since this pudding is a softer-style pudding, more cornstarch can be added to this recipe to make the pudding thicker: use 3-4 tablespoons cornstarch. You might have to play around with the recipe a little bit. I live at a high altitude, so maybe that impacted how the pudding worked for me. Or maybe I cooked it longer. Or maybe the brand of products I used made a difference. Or maybe it had something to do with planetary alignment. Or how the stock market was working that day. 😉 Let me know what ends up working for you. I’m so glad that you and your family liked the pudding, despite the fact that it did not get firm. Thanks for dropping by and leaving a message.
I’m experimenting with new recipes that add calcium to my diet as I was recently diagnosed with osteoporosis. I am looking forward to trying this recipe tonight, but since none of us like coconut, I’m thinking of sprinkling a few shavings of chocolate on the top for decoration and of course consumption!
Thank you!
Chocolate shavings would be great on this! Nice idea. ~Terri
If I am making this recipe in a 9×9 inch dish, why can’t I crumble the wafers? I don’t really like chunks of the cookies, haha!
The vanilla wafers pick up moisture from the pudding and get soft. They will not be crunchy or chunky. If you use crumbled vanilla wafers in a pan, they will become mushy because of the increased overall moisture content of the pudding and bananas. The dish as a whole will lose its structure.