Pass the Banana Pudding

In my opinion, there is only one legitimate use for Vanilla Wafers: Banana Pudding.

If I'm going to eat a cookie, I'm certainly not going to waste my calories on a boring and stale-from-the-minute-you-open-the-box wafer. Even the name implies gross. Wafer sounds like a way to add fiber to a geriatric diet. Not dessert.

Growing up in Virginia, I believe every summer cookout I've ever attended had at least one dish of banana pudding. But I don't think I've ever made banana pudding in November when it was 40 degrees outside. But bananas were on sale for 19 cents a pound this week, and I bought enough bananas to feed a large family of monkeys. So I've made banana bread, banana muffins, banana buckwheat cakes (all of which freeze well by the way)...and today I made banana pudding.

I'm not a cookbook-using kind of person. I have tons of them but they never get used. If I made something and followed a recipe at all, it was likely from Food Network But on the rare occasion I do use a cookbook, it is most likely this:



Banana Pudding Recipe, p. 1020.


Modified the recipe a bit. Had to try to make it at least a little healthier, right?

3 c. 2% Milk
4 Egg Yolks
3 tbs. Cornstarch
1/2 c. Splenda
1/2 c. Sugar
1/4 tsp. Salt
1-1/2 tsp. Vanilla
Vanilla Wafers
4 Bananas

Combine Splenda, Sugar, , Cornstarch, Salt and milk in saucepan. Heat on medium low until sugar is dissolved. Add egg yolks and stir. Turn heat up to medium, keep stirring until thickened. Turn heat down to low and cook another mintute or two. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent pudding from getting a skin as it cools. Line bottom of pan (I use 9x13) with single layer of Vanilla wafers. Add a layer of sliced bananas. Pour pudding mixture on top. Top with layer of wafers. Cover surface again with plastic wrap and chill for at least four hours.

Something an almost three year old just doesn't get: "We can't eat this now; we have to put it in the fridge and let it cool for a few hours."

Something tells me freezing this won't be an option. I give it two days in the fridge.