Banana Pudding

I had some bananas that were beyond the point where I was willing to eat them on their own. Usually I make banana bread when that happens. But I'm bored with that. So I decided to find something new to make.

I started out thinking banana cream pie, because then I could make pie dough again. Turns out you need 9 bananas to do that. I had 4. So instead I ended up doing banana pudding.

The pudding was amazingly easy to make. Who knew?! I mixed together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and 1/4 tsp salt in a sauce pan. Then I whisked in 4 egg yolks, keeping the whites for later. Once the egg yolks were thoroughly mixed in, I whisked in 1 cup of skim milk and 1 cup of heavy cream. I put the sauce pan over medium heat and whisked constantly until the mixture thickened (about 10 minutes). Took it off the heat, whisked in 1/2 tsp vanilla, and continued whisking until the mixture cooled down a little.

Before I started with the pudding I sliced the bananas and put them in a tupperware with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, occassionally turning it over to make sure the lemon juice was evenly distributed. Using an oven proof glass bowl, I layered pudding, crumbled vanilla wafers, and bananas, and then repeated that, finishing with a layer of pudding on the top.

The final touch before popping this combo in the oven was making a meringue. I've never made meringue, but it was soooo easy! Just put four egg whites in my stand mixer bowl, added a pinch of cream of tartar, and then turned the mixer on to medium/high. While the mixer was going, but before the whites had started to peak, I added 2 tablespoons of sugar. Once the whites came to hard peaks, I stopped the mixer and spooned the meringue over the pudding.

Baked the pudding at 400 degrees for a little less than 10 minutes. And out came this...



Pretty, easy, and delicious! You could probably make all sorts of combos using this as the foundation.