Banana Cream Pudding

My friend's son turned one last month and I wanted to bring a tasty little treat to the party.  I decided I would whip up little cups of banana cream, only because I could crush cookies on top, to look like sand.  Since they were having a seafood boil for the party, 'sand' felt like a good fit.  Turned out that I had a luncheon the same day, so I pulled out a few to take to lunch, and just served them up the old fashioned way, wafer cookie on top! 

I do not like pudding, so this was a strange pick for me...but everyone who tried the dessert said it was delish (and quite cute, if I do say so myself) so I figured it was worthy of a share.

In a medium saucepan combine:

small box of vanilla cook & serve pudding

1 & 3/4 cup milk (stir until powder is dissolved)

then add:

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp pure vanilla (I use vanilla bean paste)

Side note: I added the sour cream to kill a bit of the sweet,

since there will be the addition of ripe bananas and whipped cream.

Transfer to a dish and cover with plastic wrap (work

to get the plastic wrap touching the pudding and secure it tightly, 

pop in the refrigerator to cool completely (I made the night before, and

let it chill overnight) before continuing on.   The tight plastic wrap will help

you avoid the 'cafeteria pudding skin' we all remember from childhood

(and the reason, I assume, that I am not a fan of pudding!).

Next gather up:

1 & 1/2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream (very cold)

3 T. Confectioner's Sugar

1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract (again, I use paste...obsessed!)

Place in a stainless or glass bowl and whip with an electric hand

mixer, or in a stand mixer, until medium-stiff peaks form. 

Chilled pudding, whipped cream, ripe bananas and

vanilla wafer cookies, all ready to do their thing. 

Chop up 2-3 medium size, ripe bananas and fold into

the chilled pudding.

Fold in a little over half of the whipped cream into the

pudding/banana mixture. Reserve the remaining 

whipped cream for topping. 

In individual cups (I used 5 oz cups) or in a large trifle bowl,
if you wish, start layering the dessert. 

This is how I put it together:

scoop of pudding/whipped cream banana 'mousse'

top with vanilla wafers (I chopped each cookie in half,

and put 3 cookie halves in each cup), then topped with

a few ripe banana slices and topped with one more scoop

of the pudding mixture. 

After all the cups are built, dollop each one with a

spoonful of whipped cream. 

Use a food processor or a rolling pin (make sure to

leave a small air hole in the plastic bag you are rolling over,

to prevent a cookie crumb explostion) to make the 'sand'

topping.

Cookie 'sand'.

All ready to gobble up...just need some umbrellas to

fancy pants (or tacky them up...if you will) them up a bit.

The perfect addition to a backyard seafood boil party!

Like I said, I pulled a few aside for a luncheon that

same day...just served them up old school with

the wafer on top. 

I doubled this recipe, which yielded 35 desserts, served in 5 oz plastic

cups that I purchased that the party supply store.