I’m working on a blog post about selecting and raising-up bull calves into prospective herd sires. But before I finish that post, I wanted to share one of my favorite dessert recipes:
Right after assembling.
Ready to eat!
This dessert reminds me of the banana puddings I ate at my Grandma Kinnamon’s lavish family feasts. It tastes like southern heritage and Tennessee hospitality topped with a cloud of heavenly sweetness. So SO good.
This is an all-from-scratch recipe (except for the vanilla wafers). But do NOT let that scare you. I think the most labor-intensive part of the whole thing is slicing the bananas. With a little patience and attentive finesse, anyone can craft this delicious treat.
The portions for this recipe work well for an 11” x 7” glass dish. If you double the portions, you can make enough for a table full of dinner guests. The number of people this will serve, truthfully, depends on whether you are dishing out small, tea-party portions or big ol’ fill-that-bowl portions. At our house, we usually go for the full bowl. YUM!
Ingredients:
4 large eggs
½ + ¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon + 1 pinch of salt
2 cups milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons flour
3-4 bananas
About half box of vanilla wafers
Process:
Prepare
Separate the eggs whites from the egg yolks. Put the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another.
Make the pudding
In a saucepan, whisk together ½ cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons of flour, ½ teaspoon of salt, 4 egg yolks, 2 cups of milk.
Cook on low heat, stirring frequently, until properly thickened into luscious pudding.
Remove the pudding from the heat.
Add ½ teaspoon vanilla and stir well.
Make the meringue
Beat 4 egg whites and a pinch of salt with a mixer until you begin to see them thicken and produce peaks.
Carefully fold in ¼ cup of sugar. Mix gently with the blender on low speed until the meringue doesn’t slide down the side of the bowl when you tip the bowl.
**Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Build the dessert
In your dish, layer the pudding, wafers, and banana slices. I slice the banana at an angle to get longer, oval slices . . . just because I like that better. I place the bananas and wafers evenly across the width and length of the dish. I organize the layers like this: pudding-wafers-sliced bananas-pudding-wafers-sliced bananas.
Top the dessert with your meringue. Spread it evenly across the top with a spatula, dipping the spatula periodically to create small valleys and peaks.
Do a quick bake
Place your dessert in the 425-degree oven for about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye on it. You want the meringue to be gently browned, with the valleys light and the peaks a bit darker.
Eat!
Serve warm or cover and refrigerate after cooling.
