Homemade Banana Pudding – dreamy, easy to make Southern dessert; real pudding, the way it was made before instant pudding and Cool Whip were invented.
In old fashioned times things were made the old fashioned way. Pudding was cooked from scratch, using on-hand staples such as eggs, milk and flour. Real Southern Homemade Banana Pudding was such a divine dessert made from scratch, long before instant pudding and Cool Whip were invented. One could use stale sponge cake or vanilla wafer cookies or lady fingers layered with stove-top cooked custard pudding and whipped cream. Simple and easy, no bake, no-fuss dessert was served chilled after a meal for the whole family. Nostalgic memories bring back this dreamy dessert back on our kitchen tables.
If you don’t have Nilla Wafers or ladyfinger cookies at home, you can make them yourself by following this recipe:
Ladyfingers (Italian Savoiardi biscuits)
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 cups milk
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 100 g Nilla Wafers or lady fingers or other sponge biscuits
- 3 in ripe bananas sliced rounds
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In a small bowl, mix cornstarch, 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks and 6 Tbs milk.
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Scald remaining milk. Add cornstarch mixture to scalded milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Blend in butter and vanilla. Pour the pudding into a large shallow tray and place in your refrigerator to cool for about 30 minutes.
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Whip the cream with 1/4 cup sugar.
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In a trifle dish (5 cups volume), sprinkle 1/2 of vanilla wafers, then add in 1/2 of sliced bananas, cover with 1/2 of pudding and a layer of whipped cream. Repeat layering ingredients until finished.
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Garnish (optional): put remaining whipped cream into a freezer bag. Cut the corner of the bag and pipe small mounds of whipped cream on top of pudding. Sprinkle with crushed wafers.
This YouTube video will show you how to make banana pudding from scratch. The amount of ingredients is not exactly the same, but it is helpful in showing you the procedure:
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