MISS B'S BANANA PUDDING RECIPE

 Miss B’s Banana Pudding Recipe

I never wanted to do banana pudding. When Joe and I started talking dessert, I threw out butterscotch peach cobbler or seasonal fruit crisp. Joe said it had to be banana pudding and his intuition was damn near, always right. So I started researching southern recipes but they were all variations on the same thing, nothing new. I found a Bobby Flay banana cream pie recipe that cooked the bananas in butter, and discovered Momofuku's Crack Pie recipe where Christina Tosi makes oatmeal cookies, then uses them as a crust for pie. I thought -- why not make the vanilla wafers one big cookie, then use it as crumble? 

Bobby Flay's Caramelized Banana Cream Pie

Christina Tosi's Milk Bar (fka Crack) Pie

The original version of this pudding was a pastry cream with real whipped cream. My sister Natalie was my taste tester, and we both decided it was the winner. For HCT, I had to value engineer the recipe down to something anyone could make and was cost efficient. Miss B's Banana Pudding was born. I love using the instant vanilla pudding, that taste holds memories and nostalgia. I hope you make this recipe, share it with others, and put your own spin on it. Enjoy. 

This recipe consists of four important parts: the pudding, the banana puree, the salted vanilla wafer crumble and the whipped topping*.

THE PUDDING

• 2 (5.1oz) boxes of Jello Vanilla Instant Pudding (that's the bigger box)
• 2 cups evaporated milk
• 2 cups cold, whole milk

1. Mix it up well in a big bowl, stick it in the fridge.
2. If you can't find the 5.1oz boxes of pudding, use 3 of the 3.4oz boxes. 
3. I've made this with 2%, it works. 

THE BANANA PUREE

• 3 soft, ripe bananas, cut in chunks
• 2 Tbs melted butter
• 3 Tbs milk

1. Melt the butter in the microwave.
2. Add bananas, butter and milk to a blender, food processor, nutribullet, etc. and puree.
3. Stick the puree into the fridge. When it’s cooled a bit, add it to the pudding and stir well to blend. Place pudding back into the fridge. Let it chill for a couple hours or overnight.

THE SALTED VANILLA WAFER CRUMBLE

• 1 box vanilla wafers
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar

1. Crush vanilla wafers, leave some chunks. Add melted butter, sugar and salt to wafers and stir until everything is coate. 
2. Press the wafer mix onto a cookie sheet, like you’re making a graham cracker crust.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes until toasted and brown. Let cool completely, put in the fridge if needed to cool, then break up into the crumble. I like to have small and medium crumble pieces.
4. Assemble into cups (or a single dish) with banana pudding on the bottom, whipped cream topping* next, and top with wafer crumble.   

NOTES

• Use the whipped topping you prefer for this. At HCT, we needed that layer to stand up under refrigeration and time so we used the non-dairy whipped topping from GFS. I love that fake stuff. If you're whipping your own, or using it from a can, put that layer on top because it will deflate, if not eaten right away.
• My recipe calls for bananas and vanilla pudding, but this recipe could be used with different pudding mixes and cookies/crumble. The "secret" is baking it like a crust with butter and salt, and crumbling it. 

  The OG. Version 1.0.