Homemade Banana Pudding

After I have tried a delicious slice of banana cream pie in a burger place, I can’t stop thinking about banana dessert. I guess banana pudding is close enough to banana cream pie. This recipe is very good. The great part is the stabilized whipped cream! Since this recipe is for 6 – 8 servings, Bryan and I couldn’t find this in a day. This whipped cream can stay in the fridge for a few days without turning into water. With the sweet banana, creamy pudding, and soft wafers, this is a truly comforting dessert!

Homemade Banana Pudding (Adapted from Allrecipe.com)

Serving: 6 – 8

Ingredients:

–   1 ½ – 2 cup vanilla wafers (Nilla)

–   3 banana (sliced into ¼ inch slices)

–   2 cups whole milk

–   3 egg yolks (beaten)

–   ¼ cup all-purpose flour

–   ½ cup granulated sugar

–   2 teaspoons butter

–   2 teaspoons vanilla extract

–   2 cups homemade whipped cream (recipe followed)

Directions:

1. Choose your desire containers (e.g. 9-inch pie plate, ice-cream cups, glass cups, glass bowl) that are enough to hold about 8-cup of pudding.
2. In each container, put a layer of vanilla wafers at the bottom and on the side. Put a layer of banana slices on top of the vanilla wafers. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar and flour together. Stir in half of the milk. Whisk in the egg yolks. Mix well. Add the remaining milk and butter.
4. Cook the mixture over low heat until thickened about 20 – 25 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Let the mixture to cool for 5 minutes. Scoop half of the pudding over the first layer of wafers and banana.
5. Place another layer of alternating vanilla wafers and banana slices on top of the pudding layer. Scoop the remaining pudding over the second wafer and banana layer.
6. Let the pudding cool for 30 minutes. Put the homemade whipped cream on top, and decorate with vanilla wafers or the wafer crumbs. Cover the containers with plastic wrap. Chill the pudding in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Stabilized Homemade Whipped Cream (Adapted from thekitchn.com)

3 cups

Ingredients:

–   1 ½ cup heavy cream

–   3 – 5 tablespoons powdered sugar

–   ¼ cup cold water

–   1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (Knox)

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, pour in the water. Sprinkle the gelatin into the water. Let the gelatin absorb the water about 4 minutes.
2. Place the saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly until the gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat and let it cool a bit.
3. With an electric mixer, beat the heavy cream and powdered sugar until soft peak form. Pour the warm gelatin mixture into the cream slowly. Beat the cream until soft peak reform.
4. For storage, the unused whipped cream should last 2 -3 days in the refrigerator.

Tips:

1. The pudding can take a while to be thickened. Be patient.
2. If you are eating the pudding the same day, you can make the whipped cream without gelatin just before serving.
3. To make wafer crumbs, you can put a wafer in a Ziploc bag. Zip the bag, and roll the wafer with a rolling-pin.

Source: Read and Read