Naner Naner Boo Boo!

 

It’s time to make an All-American Classic:  Banana Pudding!  But of course, we’ll make it all fancified and complicated in our classic Chez Venza way!

Today’s recipe is a mash up of two different recipes.  It’s really a lesson in reading the whole recipe all the way through before you begin.  I admit that I am bad at this.  HOWEVER (before you get all high on your horses), I did read the entire recipe before going to the store.  The problem was that when I got home, I realized I had a SECOND recipe that might be better.  So….I started making the second version only to realize I didn’t have all of the ingredients.  But I put all my creative skills together and managed to pull it off without anyone knowing (except, of course, for the full confession printed here).

First recipe is from Southern Living and purports to “lighten things up.”  The second recipe is from Cook’s Country and intends to impart banana flavor in every bite.  I figured….why not take the best of both:  make it super banana-y and also somewhat healthy.

What happens when you roast bananas in the oven??

This is what happens.  Roasting the bananas is supposed to soften them up and intensify the flavor.  Don’t worry, they’re not burned!

This is basically homemade vanilla pudding (we’ll add the roasted bananas later to make it banana pudding).  Cook’s Country wanted me to use half and half, but Southern Living wanted 1% milk and non-fat sweetened condensed milk.  I had to go with SL on this one because I didn’t have any cream or half and half on hand.  Basically you heat up the milk and condensed milk, then you add egg yolks and cornstarch and cook it until it starts to thicken up.  Then you stir in some vanilla.

What does a roasted banana look like when you take the skin off?  Uhh….it looks like a banana.  Here we mixed the pudding with the bananas in order to make:  banana pudding.

After the pudding has a chance to cool off, then comes the fun part…assembling! 

Cook’s Country wanted us to top them off with whipped cream, but Southern Living was all about the meringue. Meringue’s healthy, right?   We’re a sucker for a good meringue, so we went that route.  Plus, we had leftover egg whites because the pudding only called for yolks.  Wouldn’t want those to go to waste now would we?

My favorite part of a merengue is seeing it brown up in the oven.  Isn’t it pretty?

When life gives you two different banana pudding recipes and a creative mind, do the mash (the banana mash) and create your own version!