Mardi Gras Dessert – Banana Pudding

by Two Chums on March 3, 2014

You REALLY can’t go wrong by serving this at your Mardi Gras celebration tomorrow or any celebration for that matter!

Every Southern cook has a recipe for Banana Pudding in her (or his) arsenal of great, “never fail to delight” recipes. This is the best recipe for this classic Southern dessert that I have ever had! It comes from Chef Jeff Henderson’s Food Network cookbook “Chef Jeff Cooks”. You may remember that I had the pleasure of cooking with him and my grandson Jeremy a couple of weeks ago in Chef Jeff’s weekly TV show, Family Style. This is not what we made on the show, but he very sweetly gave me a copy of his cookbook and his recipe for this special treat is in there.

Actually, his recipe is really that of his late mother-in-law, Mary Wells, the great Motown star and artist who gave us the 1960’s hit song”My Guy”. Her secret is using evaporated milk. Half and half can also be substituted for evaporated milk.

Last year we gave you the recipe for King’s Cake, which is another classic way to celebrate at Mardi Gras. Whichever you use, you won’t be disappointed….they are both DELICIOUS and a perfect way to top off your Mardi Gras celebration. Here’s to more love, more joy and lots of celebrating and abundant living!

Mary Wells Banana Pudding

1 cup of sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup flour
4 large egg yolks
2 1/2 cups condensed milk (or you can substitute 1/2 and 1/2)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Nabisco Nilla Vanilla Wafers
2-5 bananas sliced
Whipped Cream

Mix the sugar, salt and flour in the top of a double boiler. Add the egg yolks and milk and whisk until thoroughly blended. Cook stirring constantly over boiling water until thickened about 12-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.

Spread a thin layer of custard over the bottom of a baking dish. Cover with a layer of wafers and follow with a layer of banana slices. Continue the layering process ending with the custard. Place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Cover with a layer of whipped cream and then garnish with some crushed wafers and a few banana slices and perhaps a sprig of fresh mint leaves.