Southern Banana Pudding from Scratch

Course: deess

Cuisine: American, Soul Food

Diet: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 15

Setting Time: 5

Total Time: 5 45

Servings: servings

Calories: 420kcal

Author: Jazzmine Woodard

Rich, tangy, and creamy homemade banana pudding with notes of vanilla, banana, brown sugar, and bourbon

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Equipment

1 Blender or food processor, optional
1 cutting board
1 knife
3 mixing bowls
1 small saucepan
1 whisk
1 silicone spatula or kitchen spoon
1 stand mixer or hand mixer
1 oblong baking dish
plastic wrap optional

Ingredients

For the Pudding

3 bananas
8 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
3 cups evaporated milk
⅓ cup cornstarch
½ cup granulated sugar plus one tablespoon
¼ cup brown sugar
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
6 egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 teaspoon bourbon whiskey or another teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the Whipped Cream

3 cups heavy cream cold
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

For Serving

48 Nilla Wafers
22 chessman cookies
fresh grated nutmeg optional

Instructions

Prep Your Ingredients: Use blender or food processor to puree one banana until smooth. Alternatively, you can mash it by hand with a kitchen spoon, fork, or mortar and pestle. Cut cream cheese into roughly one-inch cubes. Dissolve cornstarch in ⅓ cup milk in a small bowl. Set aside.
3 bananas, 8 ounces cream cheese, 3 cups evaporated milk, ⅓ cup cornstarch
Make the Custard: Whisk together granulated sugar, brown sugar, and sea salt in small saucepan. Mix in the egg yolks, followed by remaining milk, then place saucepan on stove top over medium-low flame.
½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup brown sugar, ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt, 6 egg yolks
Whisk mixture regularly (every 10-20 seconds or so) and cook until heated through (about 10 minutes, do not bring to a boil) then stir in the cream cheese, followed by the banana puree, and the cornstarch slurry, fully incorporating each ingredient before adding the next.
Keep stirring until mixture is thickened then remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla extract, and bourbon. If your pudding is lumpy at this stage, see recipe notes for remedy.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon bourbon whiskey
Transfer the custard to a medium mixing bowl then fill a large mixing bowl halfway with ice water and carefully place the bowl of custard into the ice bath to cool.
Make the Whipped Cream: While the custard cools, add heavy cream and powdered sugar to bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment fitted or mixing bowl with hand mixer and beat on medium speed until mixture is uniform, thickened, and fluffy (about 15 minutes).
3 cups heavy cream, 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Assemble the Pudding: Add Nilla wafers to oblong baking dish and use kitchen spoon to crush them into pieces in the bottom of dish. Slice remaining bananas and layer them on top of the cookie crumbs.
48 Nilla Wafers
Gently fold the cooled custard into the whipped cream until uniform then spoon and spread pudding into oblong dish in an even layer. Be gentle when adding the pudding (don’t plop it in) and avoid dumping it all in one spot so that the cookie crumbs and banana pieces don’t move around too much. Smooth out the pudding as much as possible then top with chessman cookies, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until set (at least five hours). Serve with fresh grated nutmeg, if desired.
22 chessman cookies, fresh grated nutmeg

Notes

Preparation

Banana pudding gets better with time, so you can make it a day or two ahead and it will taste wonderful. Beyond that, the cookies and bananas can get too mushy for some folks' liking.

Chilling banana pudding overnight further develops the flavors and infuses the fresh banana and Nilla Wafer flavors into the dessert. This softens the cookies, though. To work around this, you can leave the Chessman cookies off until you're ready to serve and crumble a fresh Nilla Wafer onto your plate then scoop the pudding over top.

If you're not assembling the pudding right away, you can cool the custard to room temperature then mix the ingredients, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

Troubleshooting

Lumpy banana pudding can be the result of not completely dissolving the cornstarch or using cream cheese that's too cold. Just pulse the custard in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Variations

Make cute lil' individual banana pudding cups by dividing the pudding, wafer crumbs, and nana slices into small ramekins and top them with mini chessman cookies or Nilla Wafer minis.

Storage

Cover your banana pudding snugly with plastic wrap or transfer it to an airtight container then store it in the refrigerator. Keeps for up to four days.

You can freeze all the elements together but the bananas will turn brown pretty quickly and the cookies will be far too soft after thawing. Instead, I recommend freezing the pudding by itself in an airtight, freezer-safe container until you're ready to use it then thawing, assembling the dish, and consuming it within 24 hours. Frozen pudding keeps for up to three months, just note that the texture will be different once you thaw it.

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