Anyone with a maternal family member from the South knows that banana pudding (a.k.a. “nanner puddin”) is pretty much a gift from the great lord above … right there next to other southern gifts like sweet tea, Matthew McConaughey and NASCAR. Despite being a New Yorker by birth, being surrounded by great southern cooking throughout my life has changed my world for good – and now I’m about to change yours.
Though traditional nanner puddin’ is made from scratch by your mom or grandmom, you can recreate this tasty dessert all on your own with just a few fine ingredients. In true southern fashion, upon making this dish you’re required to greet anyone that enters your residence with “Y’all want some nanner puddin’?” until it’s all gone. Seriously – throwing out even a little bit of this dish is a sin. This recipe makes a whopping 20 servings, so dial up your friends and show them all a lil hospitality! Let’s get cookin, y’all.
For this simplified nanner puddin’ recipe, you’ll need:
2 packages (3.4 oz each) of vanilla cook’n’serve pudding mix
4 cups of milk
6 bananas sliced
1 box of Nilla Wafer cookies
Step 1: Fire up the stove. Whisk together the pudding mix and milk over medium heat in a saucepan, stirring constantly as it comes to a full boil. If the pudding starts to catch fire, you’ve gone too far. In that case, just stick to cosmic brownies for dessert.
Step 2: If your first shot at making pudding succeeds, then remove that luscious pan of goodness from the stove and find yourself a fancy glass dish of some sorts to display your creation in.
Step 3: Place a layer of the cookies along the bottom of said fancy glass dish. Then, place a thin layer of bananas over the cookies, followed by pouring some warm vanilla pudding over the top of it. Sounds dreamy. Repeat this step until the entire dish is filled. The dessert should be topped off with a layer of the pudding and be served warm.
In its purest form, this dish is known as the nectar of the south. Much like Ambrosia to the Greek gods and goddesses, nanner puddin’ is rumored to be the long-sought after secret behind Willie Nelson’s immortality. In just three simple steps, you too can achieve this sweet banana bliss. Just don’t forget to share!
