Banana Pudding



It may not seem like a bowl of yumminess, but this is soooo good.  If you do not believe me, next time you are in New York City. Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C. or L.A. stop by Magnolia Bakery.  




Every June, my three sisters and I go on a Sister's Trip.  The first year, we went to St. George and bought tickets at Tuacahn.  We had so much fun, we did it again the next year.  After two years of delight in St. George, we decided to ratchet it up a notch.   Sometimes, girls want to go places that boys do not want to go.  We decided Savannah, Georgia was our next destination.  Then we went to Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver.  We went back to St. George.  Did a winter trip to Manhatten Beach, California, a Baltic cruise and this summer we went to Boston, MA.




While walking along the Freedom Trail, we headed into Quincy Market.  There is too much to choose from in this amazing space.  A historic building in downtown Boston, it was built as Boston outgrew its original market place, Faneuil Hall.  It is a long corridor of eateries down the center of an indoor pavilion with small kiosks on the outer edges of private vendors.

While exploring the market place, my sisters and I found Magnolia Bakery.  The pastries were beautiful and there was a line.  This is all I need!  When the attendant asked how she could help, I asked, "What are you famous for?"  She pointed to a small fridge filled with "to go" containers, small, medium and bucket size and said, "Banana Pudding!"

She picked up a container the size of a jewelry box and I said, "Um, no, bigger!"  She picked up the next size.  One of my sisters does not like bananas, so she would not be a participant.  Another sister, sadly, broke her foot on our first day in Boston and headed home to convalesce.  That left only two of us eating banana pudding.  I ate the first half of the container and she polished off the second half.

Since returning home, I have thought of this delicious confectionary on multiple occasions.  I started doing some research and found a recipe I tried last night.  It is a little labor intensive because of the time it takes to make it.  You need to mix the instant pudding with sweetened condensed milk and water and let it sit for four hours.  Then once you have that chilled, you fold this mixture into whipping cream, add vanilla wafers and bananas.  Simple, right?  The assembling of the the pudding takes no time at all, but  then it needs to refrigerate for 4-8 hours.  In other words, plan ahead and make it on Saturday afternoon and evening for a Sunday dinner dessert.




Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding


1 package Vanilla Instant Pudding, 3.4 oz.
1 can sweetened condensed milk, 14 oz.
1 ½ cups of ice cold water
3 cups of heavy whipping cream
1 box of Vanilla Wafers, 11 oz.
3 – 4 large bananas

Mix the sweetened condensed milk with the cold water for about 1 minute.  Add the instant vanilla pudding and mix until the mixture is smooth and incorporated.  Put this in the refrigerator for 4 hours.  You want this to be solid when you fold it into the whipping cream.

Four hours later, beat whipping cream to stiff peaks.  Then fold in ¼ of the pudding mixture into whipped cream.  Mix until smooth.  Add ¼ more of the pudding and fold into whipped cream.  Keep doing this until all pudding mixture is mixed in and all yellow pudding ribbons are not visible.  Cut Vanilla Wafers into quarters.

When assembling the pudding you can do it in a trifle dish so it has a WOW factor at your dinner party, or mix it in a big bowl all together.  When Magnolia Bakery makes theirs, it is all mixed together.  I wanted to have the same texture so this is how I made mine, not as pretty as others I have seen.



Put 1/3 of the Vanilla Wagers in the bottom of the bowl.  Slice a banana in half lengthwise.  Then cut each in half again.  You should be holding a whole banana that has been cut into quarters.  Slice off ¼ inch round and keep going until the banana is in small pieces all over the wafers.  Spoon 1/3 of the pudding/whipping cream mixture onto the bananas and continue doing this until all ingredients are layered in bowl.  You can cover this and put it in the refrigerator overnight or you can do what I did, mix it all together so all cookies and bananas are covered in the pudding/whipping cream mixture. 


-->
The next day, take it out and spoon into serving containers, or serve in your beautiful trifle dish.

I found this recipe on website The Girl Who Ate Everything