Banana

My Mama's Banana Pudding

by:
March 16, 2018
4
1 Ratings
Photo by Kayb
  • Serves 8
Author Notes

This is the traditional, old-fashioned, boiled custard version of banana pudding, made before whipped topping existed and before Paula Deen put condensed milk in banana puddings. It was one of my very favorite dishes my mother ever made, and I requested it often. —Kayb

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 6 large bananas
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 large bag vanilla wafers
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs, separated
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
  1. Peel and slice bananas into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place in bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice to keep from turning dark.
  2. Make custard. Cream together butter, 1 1/4 cup of sugar and flour in top of a double boiler. Beat together egg yolks and milk, and stir into sugar mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Set aside off heat.
  3. In a 9 x 13 baking dish, place a layer of vanilla wafers, followed by a layer of banana slices. Repeat layers until dish is almost full. Gently pour custard over layers to cover cookies and fruit.
  4. Whip egg whites with cream of tartar to form soft peaks. Gently stir in sugar. Top pudding with egg whites.
  5. Bake in preheated 325F oven for 20 minutes, until meringue is lightly browned. Serve warm, or refrigerate and serve later, chilled.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

I'm a business professional who learned to cook early on, and have expanded my tastes and my skills as I've traveled and been exposed to new cuisines and new dishes. I love fresh vegetables, any kind of protein on the grill, and breakfasts that involve fried eggs with runny yolks. My recipes tend toward the simple and the Southern, with bits of Asia or the Mediterranean or Mexico thrown in here and there. And a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a float in the lake, as pictured, is a pretty fine lunch!

1 Review

Michelle August 1, 2019
Hey Kayb

I made this banana pudding today it taste great the recipe does not state what to do with the vanilla so we added it to the custard which was very soupy next time I will add two more tablespoons of flour. We followed the recipe 100% we will make it again.