Old Fashioned Banana Pudding

I have a confession to make....I love making this pudding but I don't like to eat it. I don't like anything that implies "custard" because I don't like eggs very much. Now with that said, I will make chocolate custard pie and eat it without a second thought. I love chocolate that much!

Aunt Byd Bailey requested I make this pudding for her when she was sick and in the last days of her life as she battled cancer. I was scheduled to go out of town but as soon as I got back, I whipped up this pudding and took it to her house. Well, I was too late. Aunt Byd was in a coma and she never did wake up. We lost her later that night. But I always felt so awful that it was the one food she thought she wanted to eat and I couldn't get it to her in time. On the brighter side, the family that came to the home in the following days did get to enjoy it and Aunt Byd would have been pleased by that. She was all about her family!!

This makes a small pudding, about a 2 quart casserole dish size. Double it if you want a 13 x 9 pan.

Old Fashioned Banana Pudding

1 cup of sugar
1 3/4 cups of milk
2 Tbsp +1 tsp corn starch OR flour
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp butter
Ripe bananas--about 3 medium or 4 small
Box of vanilla wafers
Cool Whip or Meringue

Mix the sugar and corn starch into a 2-3 qt. saucepan. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks into the milk. Add the milk/egg mixture to the sugar mixture. Cook on medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. It will begin to hold its shape a little when dropped from the spoon. I always use a wooden spoon to stir this. Approximately time to cook is 15-20 minutes on medium heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and butter. Stir until the butter is melted.

Layer first the custard, then bananas, then vanilla wafers ending with custard. Top the custard with Cool Whip, whipped cream or meringue that you've made from the egg whites.

NOTE: I rarely make meringue, although I can, because honestly, no one in our bunch likes meringue. My daddy used to call is "cow slobber". That might be part of the reason I don't care for meringue! BUT, it does look nice and I will add a good recipe for meringue for those who do like it. The bananas must have some dark spots which means the sugar is coming up into the fruit. Otherwise, the flavor will not be the same. Adding the bananas to the warm custard really does bring out the flavor of the bananas. Let this stay in the frig a few hours or overnight before serving.

Banana Pudding--The Summer Version

I have two banana pudding recipes that I use all the time. That's because I'm not so keen about standing over the stove stirring the custard base for the old fashioned banana pudding. So I call this recipe my Summer Banana Pudding.

Banana Pudding - No Cooking required

1 large pkg instant vanilla pudding OR 2 small pkgs.
2 1/2 cups of cold milk

Mix the pudding with the cold milk until it begins to hold its shape.

Add 1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk and 8 oz thawed Cool Whip

Alternate layers of pudding with sliced bananas and vanilla wafers; top with remaining cool whip and a pretty layer of whole vanilla wafers.

Refrigerate and chill several hours before serving.

 TIPS:
I typically will use 4 large bananas. You want to use bananas that are just beginning to get the dark spots on them. If not, they'll be green and the pudding will be flavorless. If there are too many spots, the bananas will just mush up and that's not good.

I use either/or vanilla, french vanilla, banana, cream cheese flavored puddings. I think my favorite is to use one small pkg cream cheese instant pudding and one small pkg of the banana flavored instant pudding.