Puddin'

Banana pudding, anyone?

I made this for a party last night. The jazz band and concert band at our church had a little summer party and my offering was my "famous" banana pudding. And this isn't pudding that comes out of a box! It's the real deal...sugar, flour and that most delicious sweet treat Sweetened Condensed Milk! Who invented sweetened condensed milk? I could just hug them!

Anyway, this banana pudding tastes most like what I remember my grandmother's banana pudding tasting like. It's a recipe out of the Southern Living Annual Recipes from 2000. I was telling my sister yesterday that I can't believe I've been making this stuff for 7 years!

On with the recipe!

Best-Ever Banana Pudding (appropriatly named if you ask me)

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
dash of salt
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 cups milk
4 large eggs, separated
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (12-oz) package Nilla Wafers
6 large bananas

Now here's where the recipe and I differ. The recipe then calls for 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla that gets mixed into the egg whites to make a meringue topping that is baked in the oven. I skip the meringue in favor of a nice topping of Cool Whip!

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Whisk together milks and egg yolks; stir into dry ingredients.
Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Layer Nilla wafers, bananas and pudding then repeat.
After the pudding has cooled, top with a good slathering of Cool Whip.

I will warn you, the pudding is super-rich but very delicious. It took quite a bit of control not to eat what was left in the pan after taking the picture!