Banana Pudding

Not the most photogenic dessert in the world, but it sure is good!

Woah, it's been a long time since I've posted on here. There are too many other food blogs out there for me to have to write the usual apology for not posting more regularly, so I will just get right to writing about this yummy banana pudding!

I had been seeing quite a few recipes for vanilla wafers on the blogosphere, so I had been planning to make this pudding with said wafers for a long time. I finally got around to it today. I made the wafers (of varying sizes), the egg custard for the pudding, and then put everything together. The wafers were good, but the buttery flavor was too salient for the pudding. I think I will either use less butter in the wafers or try another recipe next time. The wafers by themselves were good, too. I didn't take any pictures of the cookies because they looked pretty plain, but you can still see them poking out of the homemade whipped cream (I don't like meringue.) and custard. YUM!

*UPDATE*
After sitting in the refrigerator for a few hours, this banana pudding has gotten a lot better. Now you can barely taste that heavy buttery taste I mentioned previously, so everything has melded together very well. This pudding is divine!

I got the recipe from my favorite southern food blog, Southern Plate. Every single thing I've made on this site has been so good. From the chicken crockpot dressing to this banana pudding, she knows what she's talking about. I also love how she uses generic basic ingredients. Because of her, I own a generous size of generic, Wal-mart brand vanilla extract that only cost me .98 cents :D.

Here is the recipe. Since I live alone, I halved the recipe (full recipe is shown below),and it still procured a generous portion. In order to add in 1 1/2 egg yolks, I usually stir the yolks (you can do the same thing with whole eggs), and then I pour in what looks like over half of the stuff. It works perfectly every time.

All gone!

Homemade Banana Pudding
adapted from Southern Plate

1/2 C Sugar
1/3 C Flour
3 egg yolks (I saved and froze my egg whites for my new go-to white cake recipe. I will post about that later)
2 C milk
2-3 dozen vanilla wafers* (or 1 box Nilla Wafers)
5 bananas (I used 2 bananas in my half version, and it was perfect)
1/2 tsp Vanilla
dash salt

Place a layer of Nilla Wafers in the bottom of a medium sized mixing bowl. Slice a banana over the top. Repeat two more times with another layer of wafers and remaining bananas.

In sauce pot (or double boiler) on medium low heat, add all ingredients except for vanilla, bananas, and wafers. Stir well with wire whisk and then switch to a wooden spoon. Allow to cook, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, until thickened - about ten to fifteen minutes (Do not rely heavily on the time; rely more on the thickness of the custard. You don't want to end up with scrambled eggs!). Once the custard coasts the spoon, turn off the heat. Add in vanilla and stir. Immediately pour over wafers and bananas. Let sit for about five minutes or so before serving, to allow wafers time to absorb pudding. Top with meringue (or whipped cream), if desired.

For a basic recipe for Whipped Cream, you can go here. I made mine with 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 2 Tbsps of sugar, and 1/2-1 tsp of vanilla extract.

*Vanilla Wafer Cookies

adapted from Baking Bites

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 325F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
Sift flour, salt and baking powder over the butter mixture and stir to combine. Scrap dough into a pastry bag fitted with a plain piping tip. Pipe the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, making each cookie the size of a large chocolate chip. Cookies will spread, but only a little space is needed between cookies. (IMHO, the dough was too thick for the piping bag, so I just used a teaspoon and dumped the dough onto the pan. Since it would be covered with custard and cream, I wasn't worried about them looking perfect.)

Bake at 325 F for 10 to 15 minutes, until cookies are a light golden brown. Baking time will vary depending on the exact size of your cookies. Mine were a bit tall, but slightly smaller than a dime. They spread slightly to about dime-size. Cool on baking sheets. Store in an airtight container.