Southern Banana Pudding
- April 15, 2018
- 12 Servings
- 1 hr
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Ingredients
- Trifle bowl or large bowl or 9 x 12 baking dish
- 2 Perfectly ripe bananas
- 1 3oz box ‘Nilla Wafers (set aside 1/2 - 1 cup for decoration on top
- 1 box Banana Cream or Vanilla Pudding and Pie Filling Cook and Serve Version
- 2 cups of milk
- 1 container of your favorite whipped cream ( or make fresh whipped cream here)
Directions
- Step 1
- Slice the bananas
- Step 2
- Alternate layers of bananas and cookies in your trifle bowl or dish. I always start with cookies on the bottom to create a “crust” so to speak.. Set aside.
- Step 3
- Follow the directions on the pudding box using the 3 cups of milk. Make sure you are stirring constantly. Do not walk away! I use a whisk so I am sure to not get any lumps.
- Step 4
- When the pudding is done, being careful, pour the hot pudding over the bananas and cookie layers.
- Step 5
- Using spoon, gently push around the mixture to make sure the pudding reaches the bottom all around the dish and that the cookies are getting covered with it so that they can start to soften.
- Step 6
- If you are making a trifle, you will need to ‘split’ the layering of cookies and bananas so that the pudding can reach all the layers. If you plan to let sit overnight, you can let the bottom half cool first, add a layer of whipped cream, the build your next layers of cookies, banana, and the pudding.
- Step 7
- The pudding should always be the last layer of assembly.
- Step 8
- Cover with plastic wrap and let set for at least 2 hours or best overnight.
- Step 9
- You can make your whip cream now and let chill also overnight.
- Step 10
- When it is time to serve or even after a few hours in the fridge, cover generously with whipped cream.
- Step 11
- Decorate as desired with extra cookies.
If you’ve never had banana pudding you are in for a real treat. However you may have been brought up on one of 2 versions: Cooked and not cooked. The cooked version will have a meringue on top that gets toasted. Our family made the uncooked version and that’s the recipe here. It’s quick to make and disappears even quicker.
Although even in the quick version there is some form of cooking I will confess. You will need to cook the pudding stovetop as this is crucial for the cookie layers to get nice and soft and everything melds together in one big banana bliss heaven. You don’t have to wait for a special occasion to make this dessert. It’s right at home on the table at a cook out or Sunday dinners.
Unlike banana bread where you want very ripe bananas, here you’ll need sturdy but just right ones that will slice easily but have a strong banana flavor. I also like the dessert because you can get as ‘time consuming” as you like: making fresh vanilla bean whipped cream, or making from scratch your own vanilla pudding. I kept it simple here, but if you want to show off a little, you can make my Bourbon Bananas Foster version here or the Chocolate Banana Pudding here.
Makes 12 servings or 6 hungry servings
