Over the years I’ve learned a few things about food and cooking:
–Respect your ingredients.
–Salt and pepper are ultimately the most important seasonings.
–Fresh is usually best, but not always.
–For Father’s Day dinner, Dads are interested in only two things: meat and banana pudding.
Okay, so the meat part I get. But I have to admit that I don’t really understand the relationship between guys and Banana Pudding. I’ve never found an answer, and believe me, I’ve tried. Best I can tell, guys all love, love, love it. Girls and women are not like this. I mean I like bananas and all, but WHAT IS IT WITH THE MENFOLK AND BANANA PUDDING?
I may never know. I do know that our shop hadn’t been open too long when a good friend came in and ordered Banana Pudding for 90 Presbyterians to be picked up in 3 days. Our philosophy was say yes first and ask questions later, so I readily agreed. I couldn’t imagine making Banana Pudding from scratch, including homemade meringue, for 90 people! I have never in my life made a decent meringue. That’s my Mom’s department. The second my friend was out the door, I fled to the kitchen and started Googling like a maniac.
It didn’t take long before I found a recipe called The Best Banana Pudding on Allrecipes. It had nearly a thousand 5 star reviews, and lo and behold, it was a no-cook recipe–no meringue at all. I won’t lie, I was skeptical. But all those reviews! And all those Presbyterians! And only two and a half days left!
I took a leap of faith, fiddled only slightly with the recipe, and forged ahead. We made A LOT of The Best Banana Pudding with a Couple of Tweaks and got it ready on time. Whew! And then something funny happened just days later. Presbyterians started coming in and looking around for Banana Pudding. We made more. It sold fast. We took special orders for big pans of Banana Pudding, they got picked up. Other customers came in and said they heard we had awesome Banana Pudding. We sold out and still made more. And then I made some for my Dad who adores Banana Pudding. Y’all, the man had probably never had no-cook Banana Pudding in his life. He called me on the phone and said it was really, really good. I breathed a sigh of relief and vowed then and there never to worry about from-scratch Banana Pudding again.
Please note that Father’s Day is this weekend, and if anyone knows why guys are so enamored with Banana Pudding, will you please clue me in? But first make the Dad in your life a batch of The Very Best Banana Pudding! A thousand reviewers–not to mention all those Presbyterians–can’t possibly be wrong. And if you need a suggestion for meat, THIS one is fantastic, easy, Dad-approved, and utterly foolproof. You’ll need some mashed potatoes. ♥️
The Very Best Banana Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 3.4 oz. boxes cheesecake instant pudding mix
- 2 cups cold milk
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1 12 oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed
- 1 16 oz. box vanilla wafers
- 4 bananas, sliced
- crushed vanilla wafers, cinnamon, allspice, or caramel sauce for sprinkling or drizzling on top, all optional
Instructions
- in a large mixing bowl whisk together pudding mix and milk. Keep whisking for 2 minutes. The pudding will begin to thicken. Next, add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Gently fold in the whipped topping.
- Layer 1/2 the vanilla wafers, sliced bananas, and pudding mixture in a bowl or casserole dish, repeat. I like to put vanilla wafer crumbs on top. A drizzle of caramel sauce is also good. I also like a sprinkle of ground cinnamon and/or allspice. Use whatever you like, or no garnish at all.
- Chill for a couple of hours before serving.
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