Banana Pudding
Make your own vanilla wafers, or use a box from the store—either way you will love this quintessential southern recipe. You can top it with perfectly whipped cream or torched Swiss meringue (optional).
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
Pastry Cream
- 2 cups (480ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- Pinch kosher salt
- 1 vanilla bean split lengthwise
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 large egg
- 3 large egg yolks
To Assemble
- 1 1/2 cups (360ml)* heavy whipping cream *reduce the whipping cream to 1 1/4 cup if using Swiss Meringue Topping
- 1 box (11 oz/311g) vanilla wafer cookies such as Nilla Wafers
- 4 large bananas sliced
- chocolate shavings optional
- 1/2 cup toasted nuts (your choice) optional
Swiss Meringue (optional)
- 1 cup egg whites
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Instructions
To Make the Pastry Cream
- In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, 1/4 cup of the sugar, butter, salt, and vanilla bean to a gentle boil. Remove from the heat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Add the egg and yolks to the cornstarch and mix into a smooth paste.
- Slowly, and in small amounts, whisk a little of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture. Pro Tip: This is called tempering the eggs, which you need to do to get them to the same temperature of the hot milk in the pan, so they won’t curdle.
- Once the egg mixture is warm to the touch, pour it back into the pan. Return the custard to medium heat and bring to a boil, whisking continuously. Whisk and cook until smooth and glossy, for 3 minutes. Pro Tip: The pastry cream will thicken almost immediately but it is important to cook out the starch so that it isn’t grainy and so your pastry cream won’t separate.
- Strain the pastry cream into a shallow container and discard the vanilla bean. Cover with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Set the container in an ice bath or in the freezer for 15 minutes (this cools down the eggs quickly) and then refrigerate for up to a few days.
To Assemble the Pudding
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy whipping cream until medium-stiff peaks.
- If you are topping your pudding with the whipped cream, reserve about 1 cup for later. Fold the remaining whipped cream into the pastry cream. Pro Tip: stir the chilled pastry cream so that it is smooth, which makes folding in the whipped cream easier.
- Place a layer of the cookies in the bottom of the serving bowl. Spoon in one-third of the lightened pastry cream over the cookies. Top with half of the banana slices. Add a layer of cookies (be sure they go all the way to the edge so you can see them). Repeat with another one-third of pastry cream, remaining bananas, and another layer of cookies (you may not need to use the whole box).
- Finish with the remaining pastry cream. Cover and refrigerate for about 5 hours to give the cookies time to absorb the pastry cream and soften.
- When ready to serve, top with the reserved whipped cream, more bananas, chocolate shavings and lightly toasted nuts or make Swiss Meringue below.
To Make the Swiss Meringue Topping (Optional)
- Bring about an inch of water in a saucepan to a simmer.
- Combine the egg whites, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place the bowl over the simmering water and stir the egg mixture with a rubber spatula until it is hot and all of the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and place the bowl onto the stand mixer, fit with a whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until very think, glossy and stiff peaks when you lift the beater, about 5 to 8 minutes.
- When ready to serve, top with Swiss Meringue instead of whipped cream. Toast with a torch and serve.