Monday, July 7, 2008

Banana Pudding



Thank goodness for fellow bloggers and tagged recipes. I'm invited to a bar b que and I'm bringing dessert. It's hot and muggy and I don't feel much like baking or heating up the house. I'm kind of loving the air conditioning right about now. I also don't feel like bringing anything too heavy so no cheesecake. Then the lightbulb went off. I found this recipe at Cookie Baker Lynn and said "hmmm, this looks interesting.

So, not only is it an interesting recipe but it fits with this month's roundup for meringue at Greedy Gourmet



Pudding:

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar (I used 1 cup)
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups 2% milk (I used a combination of 2% and skim milk)
1 (4 inch) vanilla bean, split lenthwise (seeded)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Meringue

4 large egg-whites
3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup)

80 vanilla wafers (about 1 box)
5 cups sliced banana (about 6 bananas)


1. Preheat oven to 325 F.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife. Combine flour, 1 1/4 cups sugar, and salt in a large saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add milk, stirring until smooth. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into milk mixture, and drop in the pod too. Cook over medium heat 12 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly.



*Note: The stirring constantly is essential so you don't get burned bits infiltrating your creamy looking custard.

3. Place eggs in a large bowl; gradually add hot milk mixture (very gradually) stirring constantly. Pour mixture in pan; cook over medium heat 2 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Discard vanilla bean.

4. Place egg whites in a large bowl; beat with a mixer (with whisk attachment) at high speed until egg whites are foamy. Add 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tabalespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.

5. Arrange 33 vanilla wafers in bottom of a 3 quart round baking dish.


Arrange half of the sliced bananas over wafers.



Pour half of the custard over the bananas.



Repeat with another 33 vanilla wafers (I used less than 33), banana slices and custard. Top with meringue. Arrange remaining vanilla wafers around the edge of the meringue.

6. Bake at 325 F for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve pudding warm or chilled. Cover leftovers with plastic wrap and store refrigerated.

Yield: 16 servings (3/4 cup serving size)

In my family you know you landed a winner when at the end of the night everyone's afraid to take home leftovers because they know it'll be calling them all night. StumbleUpon

29 comments:

Cookie baker Lynn said...

Your banana pudding looks awesome! I'm glad everyone enjoyed it so much. Just looking at your pictures makes me want to go make it again.

Anonymous said...

Is this an Elvis recipe? Looks fabulous!

That Girl said...

Do you have a secret for that perfect meringue?

Lore said...

Yummy and easy, now that's a winner for sure!

Peter M said...

You want humid...wait until today...bad hair day but you got a winner with this banana cream pie'cum Meringue.

Anonymous said...

Is there anything more well-received than banana pudding? Your meringue looks awesome!

Anonymous said...

Oy, meringue is the theme for Snackshots this month. *nudge nudge* Nice pudding, btw. :-)

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Looking at the photos makes me want to dig right in:D

Ivy said...

Hi Giz and thanks for making the first move and visited me. I shall also add you to my reader and blogroll. Now I know what I will do with my leftover egg whites.

Anonymous said...

That does look darned good--very rich and creamy. Yum!

OhioMom said...

One of my youngest son's favorite treats ... once when he was young I made a very large one late at night for a picnic the next day ... I woke up to a sink full of spoons and no banana pudding :)

Katie B. said...

What a lovely bbq dessert! I'm a big big fan of banana pudding and yours looks dreamy!

grace said...

banana pudding rocks my socks off. seriously, it's one of my top five desserts. your version looks spectacular and i would eat the entire bowl myself. :)

Chef Jeena said...

Giz this is so clever! What a great banana recipe. I love the meringue so much it is just what I would love as a dessert.

krysta said...

yummy, that looks awesome.

Elly said...

This looks so delicious, Giz. I love it! I am a sucker for Nilla wafers, though, so I don't know if I could keep my hands off the box long enough to make this dessert :)

Anonymous said...

Oooooooh this looks amazing! Banana cream pie is one of the best things ever, and this just made it so much easier! YUM!

Dharm said...

That looks just awesome Giz!! Can I please be invited for your BBQs the next time...?? :)

Cakelaw said...

OMG - this is fab! I often have bananas and custard on their own, so with a biscuit base and a meringue top, must be twice as good.

KJ said...

oh my this sounds good. I love the precision of 33 wafers. I'm exactly the sort of person that would sit there and count them out exactly :}

Anonymous said...

this is one of my sister in law's favourite desserts! I'm going to send her your URL ASAP.

eatme_delicious said...

Mmmm banana pudding. I've been wanting to try out a recipe like this (though the one I saved doesn't have meringue on top). Looks delicious!

glamah16 said...

Tis is like my Mommy used to make it. Yumm.

Elle said...

Ooooh, one of my favorites! We love this and I just don't make it enough. So good!

giz said...

Noble Pig - I don't know about Elvis
That Girl - I'm not sure it's perfect meringue - but it did photograph well

Deborah said...

I haven't had a good banana pudding in much too long. Looks great!

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

REALLY weird question... have you ever noticed baked meringue having a wet dog smell? I was at my aunt's house earlier this year while she was making banana pudding. While it was cooling, I kept faintly smelling that 'wet dog' smell. She told me she notices it too every time she makes banana pudding. Then the other day I baked some meringue on parchment paper just to see what it would do. And I noticed that wet dog smell again!! How strange and gross is that?

giz said...

How to Eat a Cupcake - I can't really say that I noticed a wet dog smell when the meringue was baking. Although I do have 2 dogs - maybe it's just a normal smell to me. I'll have to pay closer attention next time.

Ya, that would be really gross.

Jaime said...

i had never had banana pudding until i met my (southern) husband! :)

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