SERVES 6
SKILL LEVEL: EASY
COOK TIME: 10 MINS.
PREP TIME: 10 MINS.
COST: $
INACTIVE COOK TIME: 2 HRS.
If you’re from the South and you’ve been to a church supper, or a barbecue, or a tailgate, then you have had banana puddin. That’s not a spelling error. I was almost a grown woman before I realized there is a g at the end of pudding. That’s the way we talk where I come from. No recipe could be easier or creamier… or yummier. The classic calls for vanilla wafers, but I often use shortbread, which is even richer. I also like to give mine a little kick with some rum.
1 cup sugar
teaspoon salt
cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk (low fat or whole)
2 eggs, separated
2 bananas, very ripe and mashed, plus
2 bananas, ripe but firm, sliced
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1½ teaspoons vanilla
About 44 small vanilla shortbread cookies
2 cups whipped cream
1 teaspoon rum
Zest of 1 lemon
1. Combine ¾ cup granulated sugar, salt, and flour in a medium bowl. Slowly stir milk into dry mixture.
2. Put the mixture on top of a double boiler over simmering water, and cook until the mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.
3. Beat the egg yolks and mashed bananas in a small bowl, then briskly stir a small amount of the hot milk mixture (about ½ cup).
4. Add the egg-milk mixture into the hot mixture on top of the double boiler, and stir in the butter and vanilla. Cook until mixture thickens again, about 5 more minutes.
5. Place a layer of vanilla shortbread cookies in an 11-by-7-inch baking dish (or any other shape 2-quart shallow baking dish). Add a layer of sliced bananas. Continue layering until all the cookies and banana slices are used. Pour the pudding mixture over top, and place in the refrigerator to cool (at least 2 hours, and up to overnight).
6. When cooled completely and ready to serve, in a bowl, whip the remaining ¼ cup sugar into the heavy cream. Mix in the rum and lemon zest, and whip until soft peaks form. Top the pudding with whipped cream.
