Lowcountry Recipes: Southern Banana Pudding

Lowcountry Recipes: Banana Pudding
Photo courtesy Christy Denney

Banana Pudding

Banana pudding is a sweet Southern dessert made with layers of vanilla custard, cookies, and slices of fresh bananas. The dish is then usually topped with whipped cream and enjoyed by nearly everybody. It’s quite easy to make.

This recipe has a few simple ingredients: Pudding, vanilla wafers, bananas, sweetened condensed milk and cream.

In a large bowl, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined – about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well – about 2 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set. It will be watery if you don’t let it set up long enough.

In a large bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the fresh whipped cream into the pudding mixture until no streaks of pudding remain.

Dessert can either be made in individual portions or in a large glass bowl.

To assemble dessert, select a large wide glass bowl or trifle bowl with 4-5 quart capacity.

Arrange 1/3 of the Nilla wafers covering the bottom, overlapping if necessary. Next, layer 1/3 of the bananas, and 1/3 of the pudding mixture. Repeat twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer.

Cover tightly and allow to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours – or up to 8 hours, no longer.

Recipe by Christy Denney