I’m back!!! I know, I’ve been slacking. It happens to the best of us 😉 Today I’m going to share with you the way I was taught to make a banana pudding…from scratch. That’s right…no box pudding and no cool whip. It is a variation of the recipe on the Nilla Wafer Box.
Isn’t she pretty?!? Let’s get started. What you’ll need:
Ingredients:
~3/4 cup sugar divided
~1/3 cup flour
~dash salt
~3 eggs, separated
~2 cups milk
~1/2 teaspoon vanilla
~box of vanilla wafers
~3-4 bananas, sliced
First you’ll want to separate your eggs. I normally tap the egg to crack the shell into two halves, and then pass the yolk back and forth between the two halves so that the egg white falls off of the yolk. That’s just how I’ve always done it, I’m sure there are multiple ways out there to separate eggs.
Next you’ll make the custard. If you have a double boiler, I’d recommend using that. If you don’t, you can improvise like me : ) I boil water in a large pan, then place a saucepan in the water. In your saucepan, mix 1/2 cup of the sugar, flour and salt. Then blend in the 3 egg yolks and milk. Now the fun part–continuously stir until it thickens. Its taken me from 5-10 minutes. If after 10 minutes, it is still runny, you can always add more flour a little at a time. Likewise, if it becomes too thick, you can add a little milk.
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| Please ignore the annoying ring around the burner that is impossible to clean haha! Suggestions anyone?!? |
Here is a picture of the custard once it is ready. It will start sticking to the spoon. After it is ready, remove the filling from the heat, and add in the vanilla.
Next, it is time to layer. I was taking this specific banana pudding to a cookout at a friend’s house, so I used a disposable foil pan for easier cleanup. You could also use a 8×8 casserole dish. I always start with a little of the filling on the bottom of the dish. I follow up with a layer of bananas, nilla wafers, and custard. How many bananas and wafers you use is up to you! I normally end up with about two full layers.
All we have left is the meringue. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer for this. Beat the egg whites starting with a slow speed and working your way up to a higher speed, at the same time slowly adding in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Soon you’ll see the egg whites thickening. Once you stop the mixer and see peaks in your bowl, you are good to go!
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| See the peaks in the far right picture? That’s what you want! |
Making meringue can be hard to master and took me a while. If you never see peaks, you can always blame it on the humidity, hehe! Go ahead and top your banana pudding with the meringue. You do not have to use all of the meringue if that is not your thing.
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| Always show off your peaks! You can make them with the back of your spoon. |
Next turn on your boiler to brown the top. I normally keep the oven door open while I do this, and at least turn it once. Be sure to keep an eye on it…it will brown faster than you think!
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| Oh yea! |
I usually take an extra wafer or two, crumble it up, and spread it over the pudding for decoration. Right before I serve, I’ll add the wafers around the border. And I never have a problem taking care of any leftover wafers : )
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| Check out those peaks 😉 |
Thanks for stopping by!
~Jess
The vanilla extract is listed on the ingredients but not in the recipe when do you add it?
After you remove the filling from the heat, you add in the vanilla. Hope you like it : )