Connie Cox's Blog, page 13

Banana Pudding-the REAL pudding

Growing up, making banana pudding was a family affair. It can be one of those family bonding things for your family, too. And this banana pudding is rich enough to feed a huge family.

Only the one or two of you? This dessert also refrigerates great, too. Just gotta be careful about putting a hard-to-get-into cover on it. Otherwise, you'll end up doing what I do and eating away at it, one spoonful at a time, whenever you open the refrigerator door.

By the way–Yes, this recipe is calorie dense. But the richness takes care of that. A small amount will satisfy you. So think portion control instead of calorie savings.

So here's my Mom's original recipe just like she wrote it (and my comments in parentheses):

Banana Pudding

Mix:

2 cups sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

1/4 tsp salt

Add:

4 egg yolks (reserve the egg whites. You'll need them for the meringue)

4 cups milk (when this recipe was written, milk came straight from cows, with lots of cream in it. To make this recipe really rich, like the original, use heavy cream instead, or at least half and half. Don't even bother with anything less than whole milk as the pudding won't set well.)

Cook over medium heat until it coats the spoon and is kinda thick. (What Momma didn't say, because of course, you already know that you should beat the eggs, more to get them to room temperature than anything else. And it's best to take the chill off the milk before adding the eggs in. Otherwise the egg yolks won't mix in well. If this happens anyway, use your whisk and try to force the egg yolks to blend. Good luck with that, though!)

Add:

1 tsp Vanilla

2 tablespoons butter (real butter, unsalted–don't even think of messing up this recipe w/ fake butter or margarine. The cheap brand of real butter works just as well as the expensive brand–if that helps.)

Stir good and let cool while slicing bananas over vanilla wafers.

(What bananas and vanilla wafers, you ask? That's the fun part of family recipes. Everyone knows you use about three bananas. Maybe four if they're small or if you helper eats one along the way. And we always use Nabisco Nilla wafers. I tried it once with a different brand and everyone knew. They did NOT like the modification. You won't need a whole box, unless you have a hungry helper. See previous note on helpers and quantities. So you or your helpers spread a single layer of unbroken vanilla wafers on the bottom of the dish. Then slice a layer of bananas. Then another layer of vanilla wafers. Then another layer of bananas. If you've got a big crowd coming, go heavy on the vanilla wafers and bananas to make sure there's plenty of dessert for everyone. If it's just a few of you and you like the creamy part best, don't use as much vanilla wafers and bananas.)

((Again, you're supposed to know to use your banana pudding dish for this. You know, the one your grandmother made banana pudding in. HINT: It's a 3 quart glass dish from Anchor Hocking.))

(By now, your pudding has cooled enough so it won't overcook the bananas. Pour over banana/wafer layers.–if you have slow/playful helpers, have them do the layering early so the pudding doesn't get so cool that it begins to set.)

Beat egg whites until stiff and add about 3 tablespoons of sugar (Spread over banana pudding)

(Put the dish under the broiler for a few seconds and) Brown egg whites on top

(Serve either warm or cold, although meringue gets tough when cold.)

There you go! Between my mother and me, anyone should be able to make this banana pudding. One bite of this and you will never eat that instant vanilla pudding w/ banana stirred in again.

I was going to take a photo of my banana pudding, but we ate it before I remembered to photographic it.

So when you make your own, send me a pic in your comments so I can admire it!

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