Banana pudding
by Ni'Ara Harris
April 17, 2019
Sweet, delicious pudding mix sits on the counter in the kitchen, I look on excitedly as my Mom prepares to put in the refrigerator. It was the first time I helped with making banana pudding. I chopped the banana slices as my Mom worked on combining ingredients together such as the sweetened condensed milk, pure vanilla extract, and vanilla pudding mix. I remember being quite clumsy with cutting up the bananas and maybe being too worried about the bananas being cut almost perfectly. As I worked slowly and carefully, my Mom worked expertly and timely. I recall her finishing the rest of the steps and looking back over to me. Her face was a bit blank yet I can tell she was a bit amused as she saw how behind I was at chopping the bananas, she helped me finish the rest and then I had the honor of putting the delightful vanilla wafers on the banana pudding! Eating the banana pudding later on that day was awesome, but spending time with my Mom, making food was even better.
My Mom's Banana Pudding
(10 servings)|(Time to Prep 25 minutes)|(Time to Cook 3 hours and 25 minutes)
Ingredients
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.) 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1 box vanilla wafer cookies (12 oz.) 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix 4 bananas, sliced into coins
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, vanilla pudding mix, and sweetened condensed milk. Whisk it all together, break up any lumps, and refrigerate for at least 5 minutes, or until set.
- In another large bowl, combine vanilla and heavy cream. Beat until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Next, set aside half of the mixture for topping the dish, then fold the remaining half into the pudding mixture.
- Cover the bottom of the 3-quart trifle dish with vanilla wafers. Top with 1/3 of the pudding mixture.Cover with another layer of wafer cookies-you may want to also stand some cookies up vertically, so you'll be able to see the full circle along the edge of the trifle dish. Top with an even layer of banana slices, then continue layering the pudding, wafer cookies and banana slices until you reach the top, ending with a final layer of banana pudding.
- Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
- Sweeten the remaining whipped cream: Add sugar to whipped cream, stirring to combine. Just before serving, dollop on top of the banana pudding, then sprinkle crumbled wafer cookies on top.