I great up eating banana pudding in the South once a week. As soon as I saw that box of vanilla wafers, I knew we were having banana pudding. My mom made it in just a round glass bowl. I’ve sort of dressed it up a bit with the 3 quart bowl I’m using. And, I use half and half with the pudding mix to give it an even creamer texture. Let me know what you think. I hope you like it.
Macadamia Nut Banana Pudding
1 pkg Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix, 5oz size
1 1/2 cu Cold Half and Half
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk, 14oz size
3 cu Whipping Cream
1 pkg Vanilla Wafers, 16oz size
3 lg Bananas, ripe, but firm, sliced into uniform disks
1/4 cu Macadamia Nuts
1 additional Banana, optional, for garnish
1/4 cu Confectioners Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
Take 8 vanilla wafers and 1/4 cu macadamia nuts and roughly chop by hand or in a food processor and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat pudding mix and half and half for 2 minutes. Blend in condensed milk until smooth. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whip 1 1/2 cups whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the chilled pudding mixture. Place a layer of wafers on the bottom of a glass dish. Layer 1/3 of the pudding mixture on top just slightly away from the walls of the dish. Place wafers against the wall and push the pudding filling up against them. Top the pudding mixture with a layer of sliced bananas and wafers. Add another 1/3 of pudding, pushing this layer into the sides of the dish. Place a row of wafers against the wall and then place a layer of bananas and wafers on to of the pudding. Add the final layer of pudding, covering all of the wafers and bananas. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 3 hours.
To serve, whip the remaining 1 1/2 cup of whipping cream until soft peaks form. Slowly add in vanilla extract and confectioners sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form. Top the pudding with the whipping cream and then garnish the top with the macadamia nut mixture. Just before serving, add additional banana slices for garnish (optional).