Banana Pudding

One of the things I had planned to do with this blog besides talk about the wedding was talk a little about the life that Josh and I have. A big part of that life together is good food. Ever since I moved out on my own, I have discovered an absolute love of all things cooking. My favorite thing to make by far is any and all kinds of dessert. I always say I am a fat kid in a skinny kid's body and I really hope that I can stay that way because I.LOVE.FOOD.

So to jumpstart the recipe section of this blog, I reached back to my southern roots and decided to try my hand at an old family favorite: banana pudding with meringue.

Banana Pudding

1 Cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 egg yolks (separate and keep the whites in a small bowl for later)

1 T flour

1 1/2 cups milk

3-4 bananas, sliced

1 box vanilla wafers

Meringue

2 egg whites (kept from earlier)

3 1/2 T sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Line bottom of casserole dish with cookies. On top of the cookies, do a layer of bananas. Repeat layers until the dish is mostly full. 

(Here is my pretty pattern just starting)

3. In large saucepan, stir brown sugar and flour so there are no lumps. Mix in egg and egg yolks. Stir in milk while warming over Med-Low heat. Stir constantly until mixture thickens. (This takes a LONG time, so don't worry if it is not looking like pudding right away. I let it come to a slight boil while stirring and it thickened right up)

(My homemade pudding cooling just a little)

4. Take pudding off heat and let cool for a few minutes. Pour warm pudding over cookies and bananas. Set aside.

5. Whip egg whites on medium speed until they hold a soft peak. Sprinkle the sugar in while whipping until the egg whites til they hold a firm peak. Spread meringue on top of pudding. Use the back of a spoon to make small peaks in the meringue.

6. Bake 5-10 minutes until the meringue is golden brown. Serve pudding warm. 

(Here's the final product. Almost too pretty to eat...almost)

I was so proud of this dish. It turned out looking so pretty, and it was relatively easy. Because I was using a 9x13 pan, I decided to double the pudding and meringue part of the recipe, using the normal amount of cookies and bananas and it turned out perfect. YUM! :)