Southern Banana Pudding with Vanilla Wafers
A scratch-cooked vanilla custard layered with bananas and wafers until the cookies go soft and cake-like overnight.
- Serves
- 8
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Written
Method
-
Whisk the milk, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, 6 to 8 minutes.
-
Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl, then stream in a third of the hot milk mixture while whisking constantly to bring them up to temperature.
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Scrape the tempered yolks back into the saucepan and cook over medium-low, whisking constantly, until the custard mounds rather than pours, about 2 minutes — pull it before it simmers or the yolks will curdle.
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Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla until glossy, then press plastic wrap directly onto the surface and chill until fully cold, at least 2 hours.
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Line the bottom of a trifle dish or 9x13 with a layer of wafers, then a layer of sliced banana, then a third of the cooled custard; repeat twice more, ending with custard.
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Whip the cream and powdered sugar to soft peaks and spread over the top, then tuck a few whole wafers around the edge.
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Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight, until the wafers on the bottom have softened all the way through.
Notes
The custard is a real stovetop pastry cream, not a box of instant pudding — it’s what keeps this from tasting like the potluck version. Pull it the moment it mounds; carried past that point over direct heat, the yolks scramble into flecks instead of setting silky.
Overnight is better than four hours: the wafers on the bottom need that long to go fully soft and cakey, which is the actual point of the dish. Slice the bananas right before layering, not ahead of time, or they’ll brown before the pudding ever makes it to the fridge.