Banana Pudding is one of the quintessential desserts in the Southeast.  It's a requirement for potluck suppers, and summer holiday meals.  If you've never tried it, it should go on your dessert bucket list.  Unlike trifles, banana pudding is at home hot or cold, and ranks in the top comfort foods for most Southerners.  It all makes perfect sense when you dip into your first bowlful...creamy custard, layered heavily with sliced chunks of banana, and pudding-soft Nilla wafers, topped off with whipped cream or meringue.  

When I was a kid, we made up a couple boxes of instant pudding, and that's a fast way to get where you're going.  But I've come to a point in life where if I'm gonna eat something naughty, I am willing to spend a few more minutes in the kitchen to make it really worth eating. 

So, lets take a tour of real, homemade, southern style banana pudding. 

You'll need about 5 cups of custard or pudding.  I am using my homemade custard, found here. 

To really send it over the top, and infuse the whole custard with banana flavor, put 3 almost ripe bananas into a 325 degree oven for 25 minutes.  Don't use fully ripe bananas, as they will get too watery in the oven and thin out your pudding. 
After roasting, the peels will be blackened, but inside they look normal, and the sugars will have developed so you'll get WONDERFUL banana flavor.  After these cool for a few minutes, you can blend the bananas, and the juice of half a lemon into your finished custard (I used my stick blender). 

Beautiful!

Now, all you need is a few other ingredients:

Bananas, whipping cream, Nilla wavers, vanilla, and powdered sugar. 

Peel and slice your bananas. 
The kids really enjoy helping with this part.  I love this little plastic banana slicing gadget.  We like peanut butter and banana sandwiches as well, so it gets used pretty frequently, even though it's a uni-tasker. 

Once you have your ingredients together, it's just a matter of layering.

Bananas, cookies, custard.  Repeat, repeat, repeat, and top with cookies. 

Spread a nice layer of homemade whipped cream on top, and top with crushed cookie crumbs. 
Here is how I do the whipped cream:


Pour vanilla into the cream, add powdered sugar, and blend with a stick blender (or mixer) until peaks form.

I refrigerate the finished banana pudding unless I make it just before an event.  It's yummy hot or cold, but the whipped cream holds up better if you pre-chill the custard before assembly.  I've also seen cooks who use the extra egg whites and whip up a meringue for the top...it can even be browned slightly and served warm like that.


I have a vintage glass casserole, whose lid also fits my green bowl.  I don't know why, but things like that make me ridiculously happy.

If you've never tried *real* banana pudding, you really, really should give this recipe a try. 
Here is your black and white banana pudding recipe printable.