The Best Baked Banana Cream Pudding

The other night I was flipping through channels and stopped on The Food Network like I often do. During the late evenings after the kids are fast asleep, my choices are limited to political news drama, paid programming and the local weather forecast every ten minutes. It’s definitely not nearly as appealing as watching Paula Deen overload her dishes with creamy butter or cupcake wars with strange ingredients. And definitely not as eye catching as the warm, baked banana pudding I saw Alton Brown pull out of the oven.

Now I’ve made my fair share of banana pudding desserts to snack on. The usual fresh bananas, Jello Instant banana pudding and cool whip all thrown on a pre-made graham cracker crust. But those don’t even compare in the slightest bit to what I’m about to show you … what I would dub as the Best Baked Banana Cream Pudding ever!

To get things started you’ll need to get some fresh ingredients together and feel free to grab a few extra bananas to snack on while you’re baking because you know you’ll eat a few slices during the process.

Banana Pudding Ingredients

• 4 ripe bananas (plus one to munch on)
• 4 large egg yolks (save the whites)
• 2 cups of Half and Half
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 TBS vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 box of mini Vanilla Wafers

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. In two small bowls, separate egg yolks and egg whites.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat (a 7/10 on electric stove) combine flour, sugar and salt.

Add the egg yolks and slowly mix in half-half a half a cup at a time while gently combining with a wire whisk.

After about 4 minutes you’ll notice the mixture starting to thicken. Continue gently whisking for 2 more minutes until it’s nice and thick with little bubbles.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Now it’s time to mix up some light and fluffy meringue to top your pudding with. Grab those egg whites you saved and a few additional ingredients.

Meringue Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• a pinch of cream of tarter (about 1/2 tsp)
• 2 TBS white sugar

In an electric mixer, combine egg whites and cream of tartar.

 

Beat on a high speed until soft peaks are formed. For me, this took about 4-5 minutes.

Gradually add the sugar and continue beating on a high speed until stiff peaks have formed. About an additional 3 minutes. Set aside.

Now the fun part … layering your banana cream pudding. This is the time you’ll want to slice up those fresh bananas.

In an oven safe glass bowl, start by spooning a layer of the warm vanilla pudding on the bottom.

Add a thick layer of fresh banana slices.

And a nice crunchy layer of vanilla wafers. Repeat this process until you run out of vanilla pudding.

Gently spoon the meringue over your banana cream pudding.

Bake for 8 minutes or until the peaks are golden brown. Let your warm pudding rest for 15 minutes and serve warm or refrigerate overnight and enjoy the next day.